Jonah 3-4

Good News Translation

Jonah Obeys the Lord

3 Once again the Lord spoke to Jonah. ² He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to the people the message I have given you.” ³ So Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk through it. ^4 (A)Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!”

⁵ The people of Nineveh believed God's message. So they decided that everyone should fast, and all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to show that they had repented.

⁶ When the king of Nineveh heard about it, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. ⁷ He sent out a proclamation to the people of Nineveh: “This is an order from the king and his officials: No one is to eat anything; all persons, cattle, and sheep are forbidden to eat or drink. ⁸ All persons and animals must wear sackcloth. Everyone must pray earnestly to God and must give up their wicked behavior and their evil actions. ⁹ Perhaps God will change his mind; perhaps he will stop being angry, and we will not die!”

¹⁰ God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.

Jonah's Anger and God's Mercy

4 Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. ^2 (B)So he prayed, “Lord, didn't I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That's why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. ^3 (C)Now then, Lord, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.”

⁴ The Lord answered, “What right do you have to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh. ⁶ Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. ⁷ But at dawn the next day, at God's command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died. ⁸ After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead.^[a] “I am better off dead than alive,” he said.

⁹ But God said to him, “What right do you have to be angry about the plant?”

Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!”

¹⁰ The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it and you didn't make it grow—yet you feel sorry for it! ¹¹ How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!”