Jonah 3–4

Jonah Preaches at Nineveh

3Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” ³So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, ¹a three-day journey in extent. ⁴And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then ^ahe cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

The People of Nineveh Believe

⁵So the ^bpeople of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth ^cand sat in ashes. ^7dAnd he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his ²nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. ⁸But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, ^elet every one turn from his evil way and from ^fthe violence that is in his hands. ^9gWho can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

^10hThen God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Jonah’s Anger and God’s Kindness

4But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. ²So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I ^afled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a ^bgracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. ^3cTherefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for ^dit is better for me to die than to live!”

⁴Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

⁵So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. ⁶And the Lord God prepared a ¹plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah ²was very grateful for the plant. ⁷But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. ⁸And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, ^e“It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹Then 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, even to death!”

¹⁰But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which ³came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹And should I not pity Nineveh, ^fthat great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons ^gwho cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”