Capítulo 4

¹But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

¹這事約拿大大不悅，且甚發怒，

²He prayed to the LORD and said, 'Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my [own] country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

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、有憐憫的神，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。

³'Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.'

³耶和華啊，現在求你取我的命吧！因為我死了比活著還好。

⁴The LORD said, 'Do you have good reason to be angry?'

⁴耶和華說：你這樣發怒合乎理嗎？

⁵Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

⁵於是約拿出城，坐在城的東邊，在那裡為自己搭了一座棚，坐在棚的蔭下，要看看那城究竟如何。

⁶So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

⁶耶和華神安排一棵蓖麻，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。

⁷But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.

⁷次日黎明，神卻安排一條蟲子咬這蓖麻，以致枯槁。

⁸When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with [all] his soul to die, saying, 'Death is better to me than life.'

⁸日頭出來的時候，神安排炎熱的東風，日頭曝曬約拿的頭，使他發昏，他就為自己求死，說：我死了比活著還好！

⁹Then God said to Jonah, 'Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?' And he said, 'I have good reason to be angry, even to death.'

⁹神對約拿說：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！

¹⁰Then the LORD said, 'You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and [which] you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.

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；

¹¹'Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know [the difference] between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?'

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？