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Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and (A)sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So Yahweh God appointed a [a]plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was [b]extremely glad about the plant. But God appointed a worm at the [c]breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and [d]it (B)dried up. Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching (C)east wind, and the (D)sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “(E)Death is better to me than life.”

Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” 10 Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which [e]came to be overnight and perished [f]overnight. 11 So should I not (F)have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not (G)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many [g](H)animals?”

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Footnotes

  1. Jonah 4:6 Probably a castor oil plant, so through v 10
  2. Jonah 4:6 Lit greatly
  3. Jonah 4:7 Lit rising
  4. Jonah 4:7 The plant
  5. Jonah 4:10 Lit was a son of a night
  6. Jonah 4:10 Lit a son of a night
  7. Jonah 4:11 Lit beasts, cattle; cf. 3:7-8

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided(A) a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.(B) When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,(C) and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”(D)

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern(E) for the great city of Nineveh,(F) in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

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Footnotes

  1. Jonah 4:6 The precise identification of this plant is uncertain; also in verses 7, 9 and 10.