< 約拿書 4 >
And it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2 就禱告耶和華說:「耶和華啊,我在本國的時候豈不是這樣說嗎?我知道你是有恩典、有憐憫的上帝,不輕易發怒,有豐盛的慈愛,並且後悔不降所說的災,所以我急速逃往他施去。
And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Ah, Jehovah, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I was minded to flee at first unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 耶和華啊,現在求你取我的命吧!因為我死了比活着還好。」
And now, Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
And Jehovah said, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 於是約拿出城,坐在城的東邊,在那裏為自己搭了一座棚,坐在棚的蔭下,要看看那城究竟如何。
And Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 耶和華上帝安排一棵蓖麻,使其發生高過約拿,影兒遮蓋他的頭,救他脫離苦楚;約拿因這棵蓖麻大大喜樂。
And Jehovah Elohim prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his trouble. And Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.
7 次日黎明,上帝卻安排一條蟲子咬這蓖麻,以致枯槁。
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
8 日頭出來的時候,上帝安排炎熱的東風,日頭曝曬約拿的頭,使他發昏,他就為自己求死,說:「我死了比活着還好!」
And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he fainted; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 上帝對約拿說:「你因這棵蓖麻發怒合乎理嗎?」他說:「我發怒以至於死,都合乎理!」
And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, unto death.
10 耶和華說:「這蓖麻不是你栽種的,也不是你培養的;一夜發生,一夜乾死,你尚且愛惜;
And Jehovah said, Thou hast pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 何況這尼尼微大城,其中不能分辨左手右手的有十二萬多人,並有許多牲畜,我豈能不愛惜呢?」
and I, should not I have pity on Nineveh, the great city, wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?