Liber Secundus Samuelis

II Samuelis, chapter 14, Vulgate and King James Version

Chapter 14 Vulgate

   1 Intellegens autem Ioab filius Sarviae quod cor regis ver sum esset ad Absalom,
   2 misit Thecuam et tulit inde mulierem sapientem dixitque ad eam: "Lugere te simula et induere veste lugubri et ne ungaris oleo, ut sis quasi mulier plurimo iam tempore lugens mortuum.
   3 Et ingredieris ad regem et loqueris ad eum sermones huiuscemodi". Posuit autem Ioab verba in ore eius.
   4 Itaque, cum ingressa fuisset mulier Thecuites ad regem, cecidit coram eo super terram et adoravit et dixit: "Serva me, rex".
   5 Et ait ad eam rex: "Quid causae habes?". Quae respondit: "Heu, mulier vidua ego sum: mortuus est vir meus.
   6 Et ancillae tuae erant duo filii, qui rixati sunt adversum se in agro, nullusque erat, qui eos interveniens prohibere posset; et percussit alter alterum et interfecit eum.
   7 Et ecce consurgens universa cognatio adversum ancillam tuam dicit: "Trade eum, qui percussit fratrem suum, ut occidamus eum pro anima fratris sui, quem interfecit, et deleamus heredem". Et quaerunt exstinguere scintillam meam, quae relicta est, ut non supersit viro meo nomen et reliquiae super terram".
   8 Et ait rex ad mulierem: "Vade in domum tuam, et ego iubebo de te".
   9 Dixitque mulier Thecuites ad regem: "In me, domine mi rex, iniquitas et in domum patris mei; rex autem et thronus eius sit innocens".
   10 Et ait rex: "Qui contradixerit tibi, adduc eum ad me, et ultra non addet ut tangat te".
   11 Quae ait: "Recordetur rex Domini Dei sui, ut non augeat ultor sanguinis perniciem, et nequaquam interficiant filium meum". Qui ait: "Vivit Dominus, quia non cadet de capillis filii tui super terram".
   12 Dixit ergo mulier: "Loquatur ancilla tua ad dominum meum regem verbum". Et ait: "Loquere".
   13 Dixitque mulier: "Quare cogitasti istiusmodi rem contra populum Dei? Eo enim quod rex locutus est verbum istud, hoc est quasi delictum, quia rex noluit reducere eiectum suum.
   14 Omnes morimur et quasi aquae sumus, quae delabuntur in terram, quae non colliguntur; nec tamen vult perire Deus animam, sed retractat cogitans, ne penitus pereat, qui abiectus est.
   15 Nunc igitur veni, ut loquar ad regem dominum meum verbum hoc, quia populus terruit me. Et dixit ancilla tua: Loquar ad regem, si quo modo faciat rex verbum ancillae suae.
   16 Nam audiet rex, ut liberet ancillam suam de manu illius, qui vult delere me et filium meum simul de hereditate Dei.
   17 Dixit ergo ancilla tua: Fiat verbum domini mei regis mihi in quietem. Sicut enim angelus Dei, sic est dominus meus rex, ut audiat et discernat bonum et malum. Et Dominus Deus tuus sit tecum!".
   18 Et respondens rex dixit ad mulierem: "Ne abscondas a me verbum, quod te interrogo". Dixitque mulier: "Loquatur dominus meus rex".
   19 Et ait rex: "Numquid manus Ioab tecum est in omnibus istis?". Respondit mulier et ait: "Per salutem animae tuae, domine mi rex, nec ad dextram nec ad sinistram potest deviari ab omnibus his, quae locutus est dominus meus rex; servus enim tuus Ioab ipse praecepit mihi et ipse posuit in os ancillae tuae omnia verba haec;
   20 ut verterem figuram rei huius, servus tuus Ioab fecit istud. Tu autem, domine mi, sapiens es, sicut habet sapientiam angelus Dei, ut intellegas omnia, quae fiunt super terram".
   21 Et ait rex ad Ioab: "Ecce hoc facio; vade igitur et revoca puerum Absalom".
   22 Cadensque Ioab super faciem suam in terram adoravit et benedixit regi. Et dixit Ioab: "Hodie intellexit servus tuus quia inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, domine mi rex; fecisti enim sermonem servi tui".
   23 Surrexit ergo Ioab et abiit in Gesur et adduxit Absalom in Ierusalem.
   24 Dixit autem rex: "Revertatur in domum suam et faciem meam non videat". Reversus est itaque Absalom in domum suam et faciem regis non vidit.
   25 Porro sicut Absalom vir non erat pulcher in omni Israel, qui valde laudaretur, a vestigio pedis usque ad verticem non erat in eo ulla macula.
   26 Et quando tondebatur capillus - semel autem in anno tondebatur, quia gravabat eum caesaries - ponderabat capillos capitis sui ducentis siclis pondere regio.
   27 Nati sunt autem Absalom filii tres et filia una, nomine Thamar, eleganti forma.
   28 Mansitque Absalom Ierusalem duobus annis et faciem regis non vidit.
   29 Misit itaque ad Ioab, ut mitteret eum ad regem; qui noluit venire ad eum. Cumque secundo misisset, et ille noluisset venire,
   30 dixit servis suis: "Videte agrum Ioab iuxta agrum meum habentem messem hordei; ite igitur et succendite eum igni". Succenderunt ergo servi Absalom segetem igni. Et venientes servi Ioab, scissis vestibus suis, dixerunt: "Succenderunt servi Absalom agrum igni!".
   31 Surrexitque Ioab et venit ad Absalom in domum eius et dixit: "Quare succenderunt servi tui segetem meam igni?".
   32 Et respondit Absalom ad Ioab: "Misi ad te obsecrans, ut venires ad me, et mitterem te ad regem, ut diceres ei: "Quare veni de Gesur? Melius mihi erat adhuc ibi esse". Obsecro ergo, ut videam faciem regis; quod si est in me iniquitas, interficiat me".
   33 Ingressus Ioab ad regem nuntiavit ei. Vocatusque Absalom intravit ad regem et adoravit super faciem in terra coram eo; osculatusque est rex Absalom.

Source: Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Sacrosanti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II, Ratione Habita, Iussu Pauli PP. VI Recognita, Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II Promulgata, Editio Typica Altera

King James Version

   1 Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart was toward Absalom.
   2 And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:
   3 And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
   4 ¶ And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.
   5 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
   6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.
   7 And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth.
   8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and I will give charge concerning thee.
   9 And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless.
   10 And the king said, Whosoever saith ought unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more.
   11 Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the LORD thy God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.
   12 Then the woman said, Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said, Say on.
   13 And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished.
   14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
   15 Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
   16 For the king will hear, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
   17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.
   18 Then the king answered and said unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak.
   19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:
   20 To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing: and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.
   21 ¶ And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again.
   22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and thanked the king: and Joab said, To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of his servant.
   23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
   24 And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face.
   25 ¶ But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
   26 And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight.
   27 And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar: she was a woman of a fair countenance.
   28 ¶ So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face.
   29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king; but he would not come to him: and when he sent again the second time, he would not come.
   30 Therefore he said unto his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he hath barley there; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
   31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire?
   32 And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent unto thee, saying, Come hither, that I may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Geshur? it had been good for me to have been there still: now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me.
   33 So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom.