Jonas 4

1 But Jonas was very deeply grieved, and he was confounded.

But this seemed very wrong to Jonah, and he was angry.

2 And he prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord, were not these my words when I was yet in my land? therefore I made haste to flee to Tharsis; because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and abundant in kindness, and repent of evil.

And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.

3 And now, Lord God, take my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.

So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.

4 And the Lord said to Jonas, Are you very much grieved?

And the Lord said, Have you any right to be angry?

5 And Jonas went out from the city, and sat over against the city; and he made for himself there a booth, and he sat under it, until he should perceive what would become of the city.

Then Jonah went out of the town, and took his seat on the east side of the town and made himself a roof of branches and took his seat under its shade till he saw what would become of the town.

6 And the Lord God commanded a gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, to shade him from his calamities: and Jonas rejoiced with great joy for the gourd.

And the Lord God made a vine come up over Jonah to give him shade over his head. And Jonah was very glad because of the vine.

7 And God commanded a worm the next morning, and it struck the gourd, and it withered away.

But early on the morning after, God made ready a worm for the destruction of the vine, and it became dry and dead.

8 And it came to pass at the rising of the sun, that God commanded a burning east wind; and the sun struck on the head of Jonas, and he fainted, and despaired of his life, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live.

Then when the sun came up, God sent a burning east wind: and so great was the heat of the sun on his head that Jonah was overcome, and, requesting death for himself, said, Death is better for me than life.

9 And God said to Jonas, Are you very much grieved for the gourd? And he said, I am very much grieved, even to death.

And the Lord said to Jonah, Have you any right to be angry about the vine? And he said, I have a right to be truly angry.

10 And the Lord said, You had pity on the gourd, for which you has not suffered, neither did you rear it; which came up before night, and perished before [another] night:

And the Lord said, You had pity on the vine, for which you did no work and for the growth of which you were not responsible; which came up in a night and came to an end in a night;

11 and shall not I spare Nineve, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of human beings, who do not know their right hand or their left hand; and [also] much cattle?

And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?