约拿书 4

1 这事约拿大大不悦，且甚发怒，

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2 就祷告耶和华说：“耶和华啊，我在本国的时候岂不是这样说吗？我知道你是有恩典、有怜悯的 神，不轻易发怒，有丰盛的慈爱，并且后悔不降所说的灾，所以我急速逃往他施去。

He prayed to YHWH, and said, "Please, YHWH, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

3 耶和华啊，现在求你取我的命吧！因为我死了比活着还好。”

Therefore now, YHWH, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."

4 耶和华说：“你这样发怒合乎理吗？”

YHWH said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"

5 于是约拿出城，坐在城的东边，在那里为自己搭了一座棚，坐在棚的荫下，要看看那城究竟如何。

Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

6 耶和华 神安排一棵蓖麻，使其发生高过约拿，影儿遮盖他的头，救他脱离苦楚；约拿因这棵蓖麻大大喜乐。

YHWH God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.

7 次日黎明， 神却安排一条虫子咬这蓖麻，以致枯槁。

But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.

8 日头出来的时候， 神安排炎热的东风，日头曝晒约拿的头，使他发昏，他就为自己求死，说：“我死了比活着还好！”

It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

9 神对约拿说：“你因这棵蓖麻发怒合乎理吗？”他说：“我发怒以至于死，都合乎理！”

God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?" He said, "I am right to be angry, even to death."

10 耶和华说：“这蓖麻不是你栽种的，也不是你培养的；一夜发生，一夜干死，你尚且爱惜；

YHWH said, "You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

11 何况这尼尼微大城，其中不能分辨左手右手的有十二万多人，并有许多牲畜，我岂能不爱惜呢？”

Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?"