Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Loving-Pity

4 But Jonah was not pleased at all, and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said You would do while still in my own country? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. For I knew that You are a kind and loving God Who shows pity. I knew that You are slow to anger and are filled with loving-kindness, always ready to change Your mind and not punish. ³ So now, O Lord, take my life from me. For death is better to me than life.” ⁴ And the Lord said, “Have you any reason to be angry?”

⁵ Then Jonah left the city and sat to the east of the city. There he made a tent for himself, and sat in its shadow until he could see what would happen in the city. ⁶ Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to cover him from the hot sun and to stop his suffering. Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷ But at the beginning of the next day, God sent a worm to destroy the plant and it dried up. ⁸ When the sun came up, God sent a hot east wind. And the sun’s heat came upon Jonah’s head so that he became weak and begged with all his heart to die. He said, “Death is better to me than life.”

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And Jonah said, “I have a good reason to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “You had loving-pity on the plant which you did not work for. You did not cause it to grow. It came up during the night and died during the night. ¹¹ And should I not have loving-pity for Nineveh, the large city where more than 120,000 people live who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”