< ヨナ書 4 >
1 ところがヨナはこれを非常に不快として、激しく怒り、
But this displeased Jonah and he became very angry.
2 主に祈って言った、「主よ、わたしがなお国におりました時、この事を申したではありませんか。それでこそわたしは、急いでタルシシにのがれようとしたのです。なぜなら、わたしはあなたが恵み深い神、あわれみあり、怒ることおそく、いつくしみ豊かで、災を思いかえされることを、知っていたからです。
So Jonah prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is this not just what I said when I was back in my own country? That is why I acted first and tried to flee to Tarshish—because I knew that you are a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in covenant faithfulness, and you hold back from sending disaster.
3 それで主よ、どうぞ今わたしの命をとってください。わたしにとっては、生きるよりも死ぬ方がましだからです」。
Therefore now, Yahweh, I beg you, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 主は言われた、「あなたの怒るのは、よいことであろうか」。
Yahweh said, “Is it good that you are so angry?”
5 そこでヨナは町から出て、町の東の方に座し、そこに自分のために一つの小屋を造り、町のなりゆきを見きわめようと、その下の日陰にすわっていた。
Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made a shelter and sat under it in the shade so that he could see what might become of the city.
6 時に主なる神は、ヨナを暑さの苦痛から救うために、とうごまを備えて、それを育て、ヨナの頭の上に日陰を設けた。ヨナはこのとうごまを非常に喜んだ。
Yahweh God prepared a plant and made it grow up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head to relieve his distress. Jonah was very glad because of the plant.
7 ところが神は翌日の夜明けに虫を備えて、そのとうごまをかませられたので、それは枯れた。
But God prepared a worm at sunrise the next morning. It attacked the plant and the plant withered.
8 やがて太陽が出たとき、神が暑い東風を備え、また太陽がヨナの頭を照したので、ヨナは弱りはて、死ぬことを願って言った、「生きるよりも死ぬ方がわたしにはましだ」。
It came about that when the sun rose the next morning, God prepared a hot east wind. Also, the sun beat down on Jonah's head and he became faint. Then Jonah wished that he might die. He said to himself, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 しかし神はヨナに言われた、「とうごまのためにあなたの怒るのはよくない」。ヨナは言った、「わたしは怒りのあまり狂い死にそうです」。
Then God said to Jonah, “Is it good that you are so angry about the plant?” Then Jonah said, “It is good that I am angry, even to death.”
10 主は言われた、「あなたは労せず、育てず、一夜に生じて、一夜に滅びたこのとうごまをさえ、惜しんでいる。
Yahweh said, “You have had compassion for the plant, for which you have not labored, nor did you make it grow. It grew up in a night and died in a night.
11 ましてわたしは十二万あまりの、右左をわきまえない人々と、あまたの家畜とのいるこの大きな町ニネベを、惜しまないでいられようか」。
So as for me, should I not have compassion for Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?”