Jonah’s Anger

1But this was a great evil to Jonah, and he became angry. 2And he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil. 3So now, O Yahweh, please take my [†]life from me, for death is better to me than life.” 4And Yahweh said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

5Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6So Yahweh God appointed a [†]plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was [†]extremely glad about the plant. 7But God appointed a worm at the [†]breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and [†]it dried up. 8Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “Death is better to me than life.”

9Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” 10Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which [†]came to be overnight and perished [†]overnight. 11So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many [†]animals?”