Shared Word Translation
Jonah 4
Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Mercy
But it was exceedingly displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.
And he prayed to the LORD and said,
“O LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my own land?
That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish,
for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,
and one who relents concerning disaster.
Therefore now, O LORD,
please take my life from me,
for it is better for me to die than to live.”
And the LORD said,
“Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah and the Plant
Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God appointed a plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah, to provide shade for his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah rejoiced greatly because of the plant.
But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant so that it withered.
And when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down upon Jonah's head so that he grew faint. And he asked that he might die and said,
“It is better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah,
“Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said,
“It is right for me to be angry,
angry enough to die.”
The LORD’s Final Question
Then the LORD said,
“You had compassion on 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.
And should I not have compassion on Nineveh,
that great city,
in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons
who do not know their right hand from their left,
and also many animals?”