Jonah 4

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

But this displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

2 He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, LORD, was not 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.

And he prayed to Jehovah and said, Ah! Jehovah, was not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? Therefore I made haste to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and that thou repentest of a threatened evil.

3 Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray thee, my life from me! for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 The LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

And Jehovah said, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry?

5 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.

Now Jonah had gone out of the city, and had sat on the east side of the city, and had made himself a booth there, and had sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

6 The LORD 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.

And God, Jehovah, appointed a gourd; and it grew up over Jonah to be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his distress. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd.

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

But God appointed a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.

8 When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he was faint and requested for himself that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

And when the sun arose, God appointed a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he was faint, and he asked for himself death, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9 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.”

And God said to Jonah, Is it right that thou shouldst be angry for the gourd? And he said, It is right that I should be angry even to death.

10 The LORD 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.

And Jehovah said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored, and which thou madest not to grow, which grew up in a night and perished in a night;

11 Should not I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?”

and should not I spare Nineveh, the great city, wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?