Jonah 3:4-4

English Standard Version

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 (A)And the people of Nineveh believed God. ^(B)They called for a fast and ^(C)put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The People of Nineveh Repent

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

¹⁰ When God saw what they did, ^(M)how they turned from their evil way, ^(N)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,^[b] and ^(O)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? ^(P)That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a ^(Q)gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and ^(R)relenting from disaster. ^3 (S)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, ^(T)for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, ^(U)“Do you do well to be angry?”