Jonah 4

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

² And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious God and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, and one who relents concerning disaster.

³ Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

⁴ And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"

⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city. He made himself a shelter there and sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

⁶ And the LORD God appointed a plant and made it grow up over Jonah, to be shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

⁷ But when dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.

⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. He asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

⁹ But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "Yes, it is right for me to be angry — angry enough to die."

¹⁰ And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

¹¹ And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"