Jonah 4

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

But this seemed very wrong to Jonah and he became 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 said, ‘Ah, Lord, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? That was why I fled at once to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, patient, and loving and ready to forgive.

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

Therefore, Lord, I beg you, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live!’

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

But the Lord said, ‘Are you doing right in being 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.

Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down on the east side, and there made a hut for himself and sat under it, waiting to see what would become of 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.

And the Lord arranged for a bush to grow up over Jonah as a shade for his head to make him comfortable. The bush gave Jonah great pleasure;

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.

but at dawn the next day God arranged for a worm which attacked the bush, so that it wilted.

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.'

And when the sun rose, God arranged a hot east wind. And the sun beat upon Jonah’s head, so that he was faint and begged that he might die, saying, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’

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 God said to Jonah, ‘Are you doing right in being angry about the bush?’ He replied, ‘I have every right to be as angry as I could possibly be!’

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,

The Lord said, ‘You care about a bush which has cost you no trouble and which you have not made grow, which came up in a night and wilted in a night.

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!'

Should I not care for the great city Nineveh, in which there are one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left; and many cattle too?’