the entire city, clothed in sackcloth, seeks forgiveness. Jonah’s worst fears are realized; God relents from his punishment of the city. Outside the city Jonah sulks angrily. Why did God warn the Ninevites? Could he not just have punished them? What had Nineveh ever done to deserve such mercy? For Jonah, death is now preferable to life. God responds to Jonah’s impudence, however, by graciously providing a plant to shade him from the heat of the day. But Jonah’s relief is short-lived, for within a