1 A nd it is grievous unto Jonah -- a great evil -- and he is displeased at it;

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

2 a nd he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, `I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land -- therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish -- that I have known that Thou a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?

He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled 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 calamity.

3 A nd now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better my death than my life.'

Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”

4 A nd Jehovah saith, `Is doing good displeasing to thee?'

The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

5 A nd Jonah goeth forth from the city, and sitteth on the east of the city, and maketh to himself there a booth, and sitteth under it in the shade, till that he seeth what is in the city.

Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

6 A nd Jehovah God appointeth a gourd, and causeth it to come up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to give deliverance to him from his affliction, and Jonah rejoiceth because of the gourd great joy.

So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

7 A nd God appointeth a worm at the going up of the dawn on the morrow, and it smiteth the gourd, and it drieth up.

But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.

8 A nd it cometh to pass, about the rising of the sun, that God appointeth a cutting east wind, and the sun smiteth on the head of Jonah, and he wrappeth himself up, and asketh his soul to die, and saith, `Better my death than my life.'

When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “ Death is better to me than life.”

9 A nd God saith unto Jonah: `Is doing good displeasing to thee, because of the gourd?' and he saith, `To do good is displeasing to me -- unto death.'

Then 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.”

10 A nd Jehovah saith, `Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou didst not labour, neither didst thou nourish it, which a son of a night was, and a son of a night perished,

Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.

11 a nd I -- have not I pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than twelve myriads of human beings, who have not known between their right hand and their left -- and much cattle!'

Should I not have compassion 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?”