Jonah 4

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

And it is grievous to Jonah—a great evil—and he is displeased at it;

2 He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, LORD, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

and he prays to YHWH, and he says, “Ah, now, O YHWH, is this not my word while I was in my own land—therefore I was beforehand [going] to flee to Tarshish—that I have known that You [are] a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and relenting of evil?

3 Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

And now, O YHWH, please take my soul from me, for better [is] my death than my life.”

4 The LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

And YHWH says, “Is doing good displeasing to you?”

5 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.

And Jonah goes forth from the city, and sits on the east of the city, and makes a shelter for himself there, and sits under it in the shade, until he sees what is in the city.

6 The LORD 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.

And YHWH God appoints a gourd, and causes it to come up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to give deliverance to him from his affliction, and Jonah rejoices because of the gourd [with] great joy.

7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine so that it withered.

And God appoints a worm at the going up of the dawn on the next day, and it strikes the gourd, and it dries up.

8 When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he was faint and requested for himself that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

And it comes to pass, about the rising of the sun, that God appoints a cutting east wind, and the sun strikes on the head of Jonah, and he wraps himself up, and asks for his soul to die, and says, “Better [is] my death than my life.”

9 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.”

And God says to Jonah: “Is doing good displeasing to you, because of the gourd?” And he says, “To do good is displeasing to me—to death.”

10 The LORD said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night.

And YHWH says, “You have had pity on the gourd, for which you did not labor, neither did you nourish it, which came up [as] a son of night, and perished [as] a son of night,

11 Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?”

and I—do I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand of mankind, who have not known between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”