約拿書 4

1 約納因此很不高興，遂發起怒來。

Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.

2 他懇求天主說：「上主，當我還在故鄉時，我豈不是已想到這事﹖所以我預先要逃往塔爾史士去，因為我知道你是慈悲的，寬仁的天主；是緩於發怒，富於慈愛，憐憫而不願降災禍的天主。

So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

3 上主，現在，求你從我身上收去我的性命，因為，我死了比活著還好! 」

And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 上主說：「你的憤怒合理嗎﹖」

But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

5 約納出了城，坐在城東，在那裏為自己搭了一個棚坐在棚蔭下，要看看那城究竟要發生什麼事。

Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.

6 上主天主安排了一株篦麻，使長得高過約納，為他的頭遮蔭，消除自己尸煩惱。約納很喜愛這株篦麻。

So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

7 但第二天曙升起時，天主安排了一個蟲咬死了篦麻，篦麻便枯萎了

When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.

8 當太陽升起時，天主又安排了灸熱的東風，太陽射在約納頭上，使他無法忍受，遂要求死去，說：「我死了比活著還好! 」

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 天主血約納說：「你為這株篦麻發怒合理嗎﹖」他回答說：「我發怒以致於死，是合理的! 」

Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

10 上主說：「你為這株篦麻，並沒有勞過力，也沒有使它生長，還憐惜它：它不過是一夜生，出一夜死去的植物；

But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.

11 對尼尼微這座大城，其中有十二萬不能分辨自己左右手的人，且有許多牲畜，我就不該憐他們麼﹖」

So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”