< Jonah 4 >
1 But this displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
約納因此很不高興,遂發起怒來。
2 And he prayed to Jehovah and said, Ah! Jehovah, was not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? Therefore I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and that thou repentest of a threatened evil.
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。
3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray thee, my life from me! for it is better for me to die than to live.
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! 」
4 And Jehovah said, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry?
上主說:「你的憤怒合理嗎﹖」
5 Now Jonah had gone out of the city, and had sat on the east side of the city, and had made himself a booth there, and had sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
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。
6 And God, Jehovah, appointed a gourd; and it grew up over Jonah to be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his distress. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd.
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。
7 But God appointed a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.
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
8 And when the sun arose, God appointed a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he was faint, and he asked for himself death, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
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! 」
9 And God said to Jonah, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry for the gourd? And he said, It is right that I should be angry even to death.
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! 」
10 And Jehovah said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored, and which thou madest not to grow, which grew up in a night and perished in a night;
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;
11 and should not I spare 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 many cattle?
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﹖」