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？