Jonah’s Disobedience

1 The word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, the great city, and ^(C)cry out against it, because their ^(D)wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ But Jonah got up to flee to ^(E)Tarshish ^(F)from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to ^(G)Joppa, found a ship that was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and ^[a]boarded it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.

Nineveh Repents

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(A)Nineveh, the great city, and ^(B)proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” ³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was ^[a]an ^(C)exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk. ⁴ Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he ^(D)cried out and said, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

⁵ Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a ^(E)fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

4 But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became ^(A)angry. ² Then he ^(B)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was this not ^[a]what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I ^(C)fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a ^(D)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster. ³ So now, Lord, please ^(E)take my ^[b]life from me, for death is ^(F)better to me than life.” ⁴ But the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of ^[c]it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(G)sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ So the Lord God designated a ^[d]plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to ^[e]relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah ^[f]was overjoyed about the plant. ⁷ But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it ^(H)withered. ⁸ And when the sun came up God designated a scorching ^(I)east wind, and the ^(J)sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, “^(K)Death is better to me than life!”

⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death!” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^[g]came up overnight and perished ^[h]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not also ^(L)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not ^(M)know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many ^(N)animals?”