Jonah 4

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

But this displeased Jonah and he became very angry.

2 and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, 'I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land — therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish — that I have known that Thou [art] a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?

So Jonah prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah, Yahweh, is this not just what I said when I was back in my own country? That is why I acted first and tried to flee to Tarshish—because I knew that you are a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in covenant faithfulness, and you hold back from sending disaster.

3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better [is] my death than my life.'

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

4 And Jehovah saith, 'Is doing good displeasing to thee?'

Yahweh said, “Is it good that you are so angry?”

5 And Jonah goeth forth from the city, and sitteth on the east of the city, and maketh to himself there a booth, and sitteth under it in the shade, till that he seeth what is in the city.

Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made a shelter and sat under it in the shade so that he could see what might become of the city.

6 And Jehovah God appointeth a gourd, and causeth it to come up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to give deliverance to him from his affliction, and Jonah rejoiceth because of the gourd [with] great joy.

Yahweh God prepared a plant and made it grow up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head to relieve his distress. Jonah was very glad because of the plant.

7 And God appointeth a worm at the going up of the dawn on the morrow, and it smiteth the gourd, and it drieth up.

But God prepared a worm at sunrise the next morning. It attacked the plant and the plant withered.

8 And it cometh to pass, about the rising of the sun, that God appointeth a cutting east wind, and the sun smiteth on the head of Jonah, and he wrappeth himself up, and asketh his soul to die, and saith, 'Better [is] my death than my life.'

It came about that when the sun rose the next morning, God prepared a hot east wind. Also, the sun beat down on Jonah's head and he became faint. Then Jonah wished that he might die. He said to himself, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 And God saith unto Jonah: 'Is doing good displeasing to thee, because of the gourd?' and he saith, 'To do good is displeasing to me — unto death.'

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it good that you are so angry about the plant?” Then Jonah said, “It is good that I am angry, even to death.”

10 And Jehovah saith, 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou didst not labour, neither didst thou nourish it, which a son of a night was, and a son of a night perished,

Yahweh said, “You have had compassion for the plant, for which you have not labored, nor did you make it grow. It grew up in a night and died in a night.

11 and I — have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left — and much cattle!'

So as for me, should I not have compassion for Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, and also many cattle?”