Jonah 3-4

English Standard Version

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to ^(A)Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now ^(B)Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,^[a] three days' journey in breadth.^{[b] 4} Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ^5 (C)And the people of Nineveh believed God. ^(D)They called for a fast and ^(E)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

⁶ The word reached^[c] the king of Nineveh, and ^(F)he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, ^(G)and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ^(H)“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor ^(I)beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and ^(J)beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. ^(K)Let everyone turn from his evil way and from ^(L)the violence that is in his hands. ^9 (M)Who knows? God may turn and relent ^(N)and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(O)how they turned from their evil way, ^(P)God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah's Anger and the Lord's Compassion

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,^[d] and ^(Q)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? ^(R)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(S)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(T)relenting from disaster. ^3 (U)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(V)for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, ^(W)“Do you do well to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and ^(X)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^[e] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.^[f] 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 ^(Y)east wind, ^(Z)and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he ^(AA)was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, ^(AB)“It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ But God said to Jonah, ^(AC)“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 ^(AD)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 ^(AE)cattle?”