約拿書4:5-11

4:5 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。

4:6 耶和華上帝安排一棵蓖麻，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。

4:7 次日黎明，上帝卻安排一條蟲子咬這蓖麻，以致枯槁。

4:8 日頭出來的時候，上帝安排炎熱的東風，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！」

4:9 上帝對約拿說：「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！」

4:10 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；

4:11 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？」

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.  Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.  But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.  When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”  But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”  And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.  And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

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    上帝用蓖麻來教導約拿，讓約拿知道祂有憐憫的心腸！祂盼望人人悔改，免受永遠的刑罰！這也是上帝為何要救人離罪的原因！