Jonah 004

English Standard Version

Jonah's Anger and the Lord's Compassion

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,^[a] and ^(A)he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? ^(B)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(C)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(D)relenting from disaster. ^3 (E)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(F)for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, ^(G)“Do you do well to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and ^(H)made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. ⁶ Now the Lord God appointed a plant^[b] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.^[c] So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. ⁷ But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching ^(I)east wind, ^(J)and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he ^(K)was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, ^(L)“It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ But God said to Jonah, ^(M)“Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should not I pity ^(N)Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much ^(O)cattle?”