1 B ut Jonah was not pleased at all, and he became angry.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

2 H e prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said You would do while still in my own country? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. For I knew that You are a kind and loving God Who shows pity. I knew that You are slow to anger and are filled with loving-kindness, always ready to change Your mind and not punish.

And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

3 S o now, O Lord, take my life from me. For death is better to me than life.”

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 A nd the Lord said, “Have you any reason to be angry?”

Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

5 T hen Jonah left the city and sat to the east of the city. There he made a tent for himself, and sat in its shadow until he could see what would happen in the city.

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

6 T hen the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to cover him from the hot sun and to stop his suffering. Jonah was very happy about the plant.

And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

7 B ut at the beginning of the next day, God sent a worm to destroy the plant and it dried up.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

8 W hen the sun came up, God sent a hot east wind. And the sun’s heat came upon Jonah’s head so that he became weak and begged with all his heart to die. He said, “Death is better to me than life.”

And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

9 T hen God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And Jonah said, “I have a good reason to be angry, angry enough to die.”

And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

10 T he Lord said, “You had loving-pity on the plant which you did not work for. You did not cause it to grow. It came up during the night and died during the night.

Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11 A nd should I not have loving-pity for Nineveh, the large city where more than 120, 000 people live who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?