Jonah 4

1 And it is grievous unto Jonah — a great evil — and he is displeased at it;

But this really upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

2 and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, 'I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land — therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish — that I have known that Thou [art] a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?

He prayed to the Lord and told him, “Lord, wasn't this what I said when I was back home? That's why I ran away to Tarshish in the first place! For I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, very patient and full of kindhearted love, who relents from sending disaster.

3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better [is] my death than my life.'

So just kill me now, Lord, because I'd prefer to die than to live!”

4 And Jehovah saith, 'Is doing good displeasing to thee?'

The Lord responded, “Do you have a good reason to be so angry?”

5 And Jonah goeth forth from the city, and sitteth on the east of the city, and maketh to himself there a booth, and sitteth under it in the shade, till that he seeth what is in the city.

Jonah left the city and sat down to the east of it. There he made himself a shelter so he could sit in the shade and watch what would happen to the city.

6 And Jehovah God appointeth a gourd, and causeth it to come up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to give deliverance to him from his affliction, and Jonah rejoiceth because of the gourd [with] great joy.

The Lord God had a plant grow up and provide shade over Jonah's head to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy with the plant.

7 And God appointeth a worm at the going up of the dawn on the morrow, and it smiteth the gourd, and it drieth up.

The next day at dawn the Lord had a maggot attack the plant and it withered.

8 And it cometh to pass, about the rising of the sun, that God appointeth a cutting east wind, and the sun smiteth on the head of Jonah, and he wrappeth himself up, and asketh his soul to die, and saith, 'Better [is] my death than my life.'

Then as the sun came up the Lord arranged for a scorching east wind to blow, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and wanted to die. “I'd rather die than live!” he said.

9 And God saith unto Jonah: 'Is doing good displeasing to thee, because of the gourd?' and he saith, 'To do good is displeasing to me — unto death.'

But the Lord asked Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be so angry about the plant?” “Yes I do!” Jonah replied. “I'm angry enough to die!”

10 And Jehovah saith, 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou didst not labour, neither didst thou nourish it, which a son of a night was, and a son of a night perished,

Then the Lord told Jonah, “You're concerned about a plant which you did nothing about, and you didn't make it grow. It came up overnight and died overnight.

11 and I — have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left — and much cattle!'

Shouldn't I be concerned about the great city of Nineveh where one hundred and twenty thousand people live who don't know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals?”