Jonah 4

Jonah Responds to God’s Kindness

4:1 This displeased Jonah terribly¹ and he became very angry.² 4:2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought³ would happen⁴ when I was in my own country.⁵ This is what I tried to prevent⁶ by attempting to escape to Tarshish!⁷ – because I knew⁸ that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger⁹ and abounding¹⁰ in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.¹¹ 4:3 So now, Lord, kill me instead,¹² because I would rather die than live!”¹³ 4:4 The Lord said, “Are you really so very¹⁴ angry?”¹⁵

4:5 Jonah left the city and sat down east¹⁶ of it.¹⁷ He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.¹⁸ 4:6 The Lord God appointed¹⁹ a little plant²⁰ and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue²¹ him from his misery.²² Now Jonah was very delighted²³ about the little plant.

4:7 So God sent²⁴ a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. 4:8 When the sun began to shine, God sent²⁵ a hot²⁶ east wind. So the sun beat down²⁷ on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life,²⁸ and said, “I would rather die than live!”²⁹ 4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry³⁰ about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry³¹ as I could possibly be!”³² 4:10 The Lord said, “You were upset³³ about this little³⁴ plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day.³⁵ 4:11 Should I³⁶ not be even more³⁷ concerned³⁸ about Nineveh, this enormous city?³⁹ There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong,⁴⁰ as well as many animals!”⁴¹