Jonah 4
Young's Literal Translation
4 And it is grievous unto Jonah -- a great evil -- and he is displeased at it;
2 and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, `I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land -- therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish -- that I have known that Thou [art] a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?
3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better [is] my death than my life.'
4 And Jehovah saith, `Is doing good displeasing to thee?'
5 And Jonah goeth forth from the city, and sitteth on the east of the city, and maketh to himself there a booth, and sitteth under it in the shade, till that he seeth what is in the city.
6 And Jehovah God appointeth a gourd, and causeth it to come up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to give deliverance to him from his affliction, and Jonah rejoiceth because of the gourd [with] great joy.
7 And God appointeth a worm at the going up of the dawn on the morrow, and it smiteth the gourd, and it drieth up.
8 And it cometh to pass, about the rising of the sun, that God appointeth a cutting east wind, and the sun smiteth on the head of Jonah, and he wrappeth himself up, and asketh his soul to die, and saith, `Better [is] my death than my life.'
9 And God saith unto Jonah: `Is doing good displeasing to thee, because of the gourd?' and he saith, `To do good is displeasing to me -- unto death.'
10 And Jehovah saith, `Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou didst not labour, neither didst thou nourish it, which a son of a night was, and a son of a night perished,
11 and I -- have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left -- and much cattle!'
Jonah 4
New American Standard Bible
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?”
Footnotes
- Jonah 4:2 Lit my word
- Jonah 4:3 Lit soul
- Jonah 4:5 Lit the city
- Jonah 4:6 Prob. a castor oil plant, and so throughout the ch
- Jonah 4:6 Lit save him from
- Jonah 4:6 Lit rejoiced with great joy
- Jonah 4:10 Lit was a son of a night
- Jonah 4:10 Lit a son of a night
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
