Jonas Propheta 4

1 Et afflictus est Ionas afflictione magna, et iratus est:

But this seemed very wrong to Jonah and he became angry.

2 et oravit ad Dominum, et dixit: Obsecro Domine, numquid non hoc est verbum meum, cum adhuc essem in terra mea? propter hoc præoccupavi ut fugerem in Tharsis. scio enim quia tu Deus clemens, et misericors es, patiens, et multæ miserationis, et ignoscens super malitia.

He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Ah, Lord, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? That was why I fled at once to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, patient, and loving and ready to forgive.

3 Et nunc Domine tolle quæso animam meam a me: quia melior est mihi mors quam vita.

Therefore, Lord, I beg you, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live!’

4 Et dixit Dominus: Putasne bene irasceris tu?

But the Lord said, ‘Are you doing right in being angry?’

5 Et egressus est Ionas de civitate, et sedit contra Orientem civitatis: et fecit sibimet umbraculum ibi, et sedebat subter illud in umbra, donec videret quid accideret civitati.

Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down on the east side, and there made a hut for himself and sat under it, waiting to see what would become of the city.

6 Et præparavit Dominus Deus hederam, et ascendit super caput Ionæ, ut esset umbra super caput eius, et protegeret eum: laboraverat enim: et lætatus est Ionas super hedera, lætitia magna.

And the Lord arranged for a bush to grow up over Jonah as a shade for his head to make him comfortable. The bush gave Jonah great pleasure;

7 Et paravit Deus vermen ascensu diluculi in crastinum: et percussit hederam, et exaruit.

but at dawn the next day God arranged for a worm which attacked the bush, so that it wilted.

8 Et cum ortus fuisset sol, præcepit Dominus vento calido, et urenti: et percussit sol super caput Ionæ, et æstuabat: et petivit animæ suæ ut moreretur, et dixit: Melius est mihi mori, quam vivere.

And when the sun rose, God arranged a hot east wind. And the sun beat upon Jonah’s head, so that he was faint and begged that he might die, saying, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’

9 Et dixit Dominus ad Ionam: Putasne bene irasceris tu super hedera? Et dixit: Bene irascor ego usque ad mortem.

But God said to Jonah, ‘Are you doing right in being angry about the bush?’ He replied, ‘I have every right to be as angry as I could possibly be!’

10 Et dixit Dominus: Tu doles super hederam, in qua non laborasti, neque fecisti ut cresceret. quæ sub una nocte nata est, et sub una nocte periit.

The Lord said, ‘You care about a bush which has cost you no trouble and which you have not made grow, which came up in a night and wilted in a night.

11 Et ego non parcam Ninive civitati magnæ, in qua sunt plus quam centum viginti millia hominum, qui nesciunt quid sit inter dexteram et sinistram suam, et iumenta multa?

Should I not care for the great city Nineveh, in which there are one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left; and many cattle too?’