the sun beats down on his head. The action of the sun is described in the same way as that of the worm destroying the gourd; the verb wattak, ‘it attacked’, is used in both instances. As a result Jonah becomes faint, probably suffering from sunstroke. All this is too much for him, and like Elijah under the broom tree, he expresses his desire to die.26 Though the final words of the verse are identical in the Hebrew original to those at the end of verse 3, NIV has It would be better for me to die than