Jonah 4
New Living Translation
Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Mercy
4 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. 8 And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness,[a] not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
Footnotes
- 4:11 Hebrew people who don’t know their right hand from their left.
Jonah 4
Jubilee Bible 2000
4 ¶ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was this not what I said when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hastened to flee unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy, and dost repent when thou art come to take punishment.
3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for I would rather die than live.
4 Then the LORD said, Art thou so angry?
5 ¶ And Jonah went out of the city and sat towards the east side of the city, and there made him a booth and sat under it in the shade until he might see what would become of the city.
6 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 evil. So Jonah was exceeding glad for the gourd.
7 But God also prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wished in his soul to die and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Art thou so angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then the LORD said, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not laboured, neither didst thou make it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night:
11 And shall I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and many animals?
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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