< Jonah 4 >

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
But Jonas was very deeply grieved, and he was confounded.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray you, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent you of the evil.
And he prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord, were not these my words when I was yet in my land? therefore I made haste to flee to Tharsis; because I knew that thou are merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in kindness, and repentest of evil.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I plead to you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
And now, Lord God, take my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the LORD, Do you well to be angry?
And the Lord said to Jonas, Art thou very much grieved?
5 So 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 shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
And Jonas went out from the city, and sat over against the city; and he made for himself there a booth, and he sat under it, until he should perceive what would become of the city.
6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
And the Lord God commanded a gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, to shade him from his calamities: and Jonas rejoiced with great joy for the gourd.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it stroke the gourd that it withered.
And God commanded a worm the next morning, and it smote the gourd, and it withered away.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
And it came to pass at the rising of the sun, that God commanded a burning east wind; and the sun smote on the head of Jonas, and he fainted, and despaired of his life, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
And God said to Jonas, Art thou very much grieved for the gourd? And he said, I am very much grieved, even to death.
10 Then said the LORD, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
And the Lord said, Thou hadst pity on the gourd, for which thou has not suffered, neither didst thou rear it; which came up before night, and perished before [another] night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
and shall not I spare Nineve, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of human beings, who do not know their right hand or their left hand; and [also] much cattle?

< Jonah 4 >