Jonah 4

Jonah’s Anger and God’s Mercy

4Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. ^2*So he prayed, “Lord, didn’t I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That’s why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. ^3*Now, Lord, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.” ⁴The Lord answered, “What right have you to be angry?”

⁵Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh. ⁶Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. ⁷But at dawn the next day, at God’s command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died. ⁸After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead.^e “I am better off dead than alive,” he said.

⁹But God said to him, “What right have you to be angry about the plant?”

Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!”

¹⁰The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn’t do anything for it, and you didn’t make it grow—yet you feel sorry for it! ¹¹How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!”