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REGINA — A Saskatchewan cabinet minister who tweeted an Old Testament passage where God tells people to pray and repent to cure an epidemic says he deleted it out of concern it may have sent the wrong message.

As the province responds to the COVID-19 outbreak, Minister of Highways Greg Ottenbreit tweeted a photo early Saturday where a section of scripture is highlighted and circled with the text “Pay Attention Children.”

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In that particular passage God says when he sends an epidemic onto his people, if they “pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing” they will be forgiven and their lands will be restored.

Ottenbreit says in the tweet “I guess it worked a few thousand years ago …couldn’t hurt.”

In a statement, the Yorkton-area MLA says his Christian faith is important to him and he intended to encourage those inclined to pray to do so.

He says he realized the picture framed it harshly and felt it could be interpreted to mean that’s all one should do, which is why he deleted it.

As of Saturday, Saskatchewan has reported 134 cases of COVID-19.