Jonah 4

1 But this displeased Jonah and he became very angry.

Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.

2 So Jonah prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is this not just what I said when I was back in my own country? That is why I acted first and tried to flee to Tarshish—because I knew that you are a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in covenant faithfulness, and you hold back from sending disaster.

So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

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

And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 Yahweh said, “Is it good that you are so angry?”

But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made a shelter and sat under it in the shade so that he could see what might become of the city.

Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.

6 Yahweh God prepared a plant and made it grow up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head to relieve his distress. Jonah was very glad because of the plant.

So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

7 But God prepared a worm at sunrise the next morning. It attacked the plant and the plant withered.

When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.

8 It came about that when the sun rose the next morning, God prepared a hot east wind. Also, the sun beat down on Jonah's head and he became faint. Then Jonah wished that he might die. He said to himself, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it good that you are so angry about the plant?” Then Jonah said, “It is good that I am angry, even to death.”

Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

10 Yahweh said, “You have had compassion for the plant, for which you have not labored, nor did you make it grow. It grew up in a night and died in a night.

But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.

11 So as for me, should I not have compassion for Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?”

So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”