² He ^(A)prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this ^[a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore ^[b]in order to forestall this I ^(B)fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ^(C)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

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 ^[a]came up overnight and perished ^[b]overnight. ¹¹ Should I not ^(A)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not ^(B)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many ^(C)animals?”