Jonah 3–4

Jonah Goes to Nineveh

3Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah^t a second time: ²“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

³Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. ⁴Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming,^u “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.^v

⁶When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.^{w 7}This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.^{x 8}But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call^y urgently on God. Let them give up^z their evil ways^a and their violence.^{b 9}Who knows?^c God may yet relent^d and with compassion turn^e from his fierce anger^f so that we will not perish.”

¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented^g and did not bring on them the destruction^h he had threatened.ⁱ

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion

4But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.^{j 2}He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew^k that you are a gracious^l and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love,^m a God who relentsⁿ from sending calamity.^{o 3}Now, Lord, take away my life,^p for it is better for me to die^q than to live.”^r

⁴But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”^s

⁵Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. ⁶Then the Lord God provided^t a leafy plant^a and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. ⁷But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.^{u 8}When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,^v and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

⁹But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”^w

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

¹⁰But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹And should I not have concern^x for the great city of Nineveh,^y in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”