THE BOOK OF JONAH

 

Jonah Chapter 4

1 ¶ However that greatly displeased Jonah, and he was very angry.

2 And he prayed to the LORD, saying, I ask you, O LORD, isn’t this just what I expected, when I was still in my own country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish: because I know that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, very kind, and reluctant to bring on disaster.

3 Therefore, O LORD, I beg you to take my life; for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 Then the LORD asked, Is it right for you to be angry?

5 ¶ So Jonah went out of the city, and sat down on the east side of it, and there made a booth, and sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

6 Now the LORD God had prepared a plant, which he caused to grow up over Jonah, that it might shade his head, and ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy that the plant was there.

7 But when the next day dawned God caused a worm that he had prepared to bore into the plant, causing it to wither.

8 And after the sun had risen, God prepared a scorching east wind; and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, so that he almost fainted, and inwardly wanted to die, thinking, It is better for me to die than to live.

9 And God asked Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he replied, It is right for me to be angry, angry enough to die.

10 Then the LORD said, You have had pity on a plant, which you did not work for or raise; which grew in a night, and died in a night:

11 Shouldn’t I have pity on Nineveh, this great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left; and also many animals?