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

But Jonah was not pleased at all, 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, “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.

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

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

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

And the Lord said, “Have you any 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 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.

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.

Then 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.

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

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 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.”

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 a good reason to be angry about the plant?” And Jonah said, “I have a good reason to be angry, angry enough to die.”

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,

The 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.

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!'

And 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?”