Jonah’s Anger

Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.(A) He prayed to the Lord,(B) “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place.(C) I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,(D) slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.(E) And now, Lord, take my life from me,(F) for it is better for me to die than to live.”(G)

The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah left the city and found a place east of it.(H) He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble.[a] Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.(I)

As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind.(J) The sun beat down on Jonah’s head(K) so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”(L)

Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”

10 And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11 So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh,(M) which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left,(N) as well as many animals?”(O)

Footnotes

  1. 4:6 Or disaster, or evil

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I [a]hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. And Jehovah said, [b]Doest thou well to be angry? Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

And Jehovah God prepared a [c]gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10 And Jehovah said, Thou hast had regard for the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 and should not I have regard for Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 4:2 Or, was beforehand in fleeing
  2. Jonah 4:4 Or, Art thou greatly angry?
  3. Jonah 4:6 Or, Palma Christi. Hebrew kikayon.