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Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine. But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered. When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?”

He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”

10 Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. 11 Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”

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Jonah’s Discouragement

Then Jonah left the city and sat down on the eastern side.[a] There he made a shelter for himself and sat down under its shade to see what would happen to the city. The Lord God prepared a vine plant,[b] and it grew over Jonah to shade his head and provide relief from his misery. Jonah was happy—indeed, he was ecstatic—about the vine plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm that attacked the vine plant so that it withered away. When the sun rose, God prepared a harsh east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head, he became faint, and he begged to die. “It is better for me to die than to live!” he said.

Then God asked Jonah, “Is your anger about the vine plant justified?”

And he answered, “Absolutely! I’m so angry I could die!”

10 But the Lord asked, “You cared about a vine plant that you neither worked on nor cultivated? A vine plant that grew up overnight and died overnight? 11 So why shouldn’t I be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 human beings who do not know their right hand from their left,[c] as well as a lot of livestock?

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Footnotes

  1. Jonah 4:5 Lit. down east of the city
  2. Jonah 4:6 Or castor bean plant; or gourd; and so throughout the chapter
  3. Jonah 4:11 I.e. young children or infants