Jonah 4
1 And it was vexing unto Jonah, with a great vexation, —and it angered him.
And Jonas was exceedingly troubled, and was angry:
2 So he prayed unto Yahweh, and said—Ah now! Yahweh! Was not, this, my word, while I was yet upon mine own soil? For this cause, did I hasten to flee unto Tarshish, —because I knew that, thou, art a GOD of favour and compassion, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and art grieved over calamity.
And he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, is not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I went before to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil.
3 Now, therefore, O Yahweh, take, I pray thee, my life from me, —for it were better for me, to die, than, to live.
And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said Yahweh, Art thou rightly angry?
And the Lord said: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry?
5 But Jonah, went forth, out of the city, and abode on the east side of the city; and made for himself there, a hut, and sat under it, in the shade, until he should see what would become of the city.
Then Jonas went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of the city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would befall the city.
6 Now Yahweh God appointed a gourd, and caused it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his vexation, —and Jonah rejoiced over the gourd, with great rejoicing.
And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for he was fatigued), and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy.
7 But God appointed a worm, at the uprisings of the dawn, the next day, —and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
8 And it came to pass, at the breaking forth of the sun, that God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah, that he became faint, —and asked his life, that he might die, and said, It were better for me, to die, than, to live.
And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonas, and he broiled with the heat: and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is better for me to die than to live.
9 Then said God unto Jonah, Art thou rightly angry over the gourd? And he said, I am rightly angry, unto death.
And the Lord said to Jonas: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto death.
10 Then said Yahweh, Thou, wouldest have spared the gourd, for which thou hadst not toiled, neither hadst thou made it grow, —which, as the off-spring of a night, came up, and, as the offspring of a night, perished;
And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in one night perished.
11 And was not, I, to spare Nineveh, the great city, —wherein are more than twelve times ten thousand human beings, who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, besides much cattle?
And shall not I spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that know not how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?
