約拿書 4
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
4 這事令約拿十分不悅，非常惱怒。 2 他向耶和華禱告說：「耶和華啊，我在家鄉的時候豈不早就說過你會這樣做嗎？我知道你是一位有恩典、有憐憫的上帝，不輕易發怒，充滿慈愛，不忍心降災，所以我才急速逃往他施。 3 耶和華啊，求你收回我的性命吧，我死了比活著還好！」 4 耶和華對他說：「你這樣大發脾氣合理嗎？」
5 於是，約拿跑到城外，在城東為自己搭了一個棚，坐在棚下蔭涼處，要看看尼尼微城究竟會怎樣。 6 後來，耶和華上帝安排了一棵蓖麻迅速地長起來，為約拿遮蔭，使他的頭免受日曬。約拿因有這棵蓖麻而非常歡喜。 7 第二天黎明的時候，上帝卻安排了一條蟲來咬這棵蓖麻，蓖麻就枯萎了。 8 太陽出來的時候，上帝颳起燥熱的東風，烈日把約拿曬得發昏，他就再次求死說：「我死了比活著還好！」
9 上帝對約拿說：「你為這棵蓖麻大發脾氣合理嗎？」約拿回答說：「我就是氣死了也合理。」 10 耶和華說：「這棵蓖麻不是你種的，也不是你栽培的，它在一夜之間長成，又在一夜之間死去，你尚且如此愛惜， 11 我怎能不愛惜這尼尼微大城呢？城中單是連左右手都分不清的人就有十二萬多，還有許多的牲畜。」
Jonah 4
1599 Geneva Bible
4 The great goodness of God toward his creatures.
1 Therefore it displeased [a]Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? therefore I prevented it to flee unto [b]Tarshish: for I knew, that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life [c]from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be [d]angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the East side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow [e]till he might see what should be done in the city.
6 And the Lord God prepared a [f]gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, and deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
8 And when the sun did arise, God prepared also a fervent East wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted and wished in his heart to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said unto Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be [g]angry unto the death.
10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night,
11 And should [h]not I spare Nineveh that great city, wherein are sixscore thousand persons, that [i]cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?
Footnotes
- Jonah 4:1 Because hereby he should be taken as a false prophet, and so the Name of God, which he preached, should be blasphemed.
- Jonah 4:2 Read Jonah 1:3.
- Jonah 4:3 Thus he prayed of grief fearing lest God’s Name by this forgiveness might be blasphemed, as though he sent his Prophets forth to denounce his judgments in vain.
- Jonah 4:4 Wilt thou be judge when I do things for my glory, and when I do not?
- Jonah 4:5 For he doubted as yet whether God would show them mercy or not, and therefore after forty days he departed out of the city, looking what issue God would send.
- Jonah 4:6 Which was a further means, to cover him from the heat of the sun, as he remained in his booth.
- Jonah 4:9 This declareth the great inconveniences whereinto God’s servants do fall when they give place to their own affections, and do not in all things willingly submit themselves to God.
- Jonah 4:11 Thus God mercifully reproveth him which would pity himself, and this gourd, and yet would restrain God to show his compassion to so many thousand people.
- Jonah 4:11 Meaning, that they were children and infants.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
