Jonah 4
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Jonah’s Anger
4 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.(A) 2 He prayed to the Lord:(B) “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place.(C) I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God,(D) slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from sending disaster.(E) 3 And now, Lord, please take my life from me,(F) for it is better for me to die than to live.”(G)
4 The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah left the city and sat down east of it.(H) He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God appointed a plant,[a] and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort.[b] Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.(I)
8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind.(J) The sun beat down so much on Jonah’s head(K) that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”(L)
9 Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes,” he replied. “It is right. I’m angry enough to die!”
10 So the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11 Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh,(M) which has more than 120,000 people[c] who cannot distinguish between their right and their left,(N) as well as many animals?”(O)
Footnotes
- Jonah 4:6 A castor-oil plant or a climbing gourd
- Jonah 4:6 Lit to deliver him from his evil
- Jonah 4:11 Or men
Jonah 4
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and [when sinners turn to You and meet Your conditions] You revoke the [sentence of] evil against them.(A)
3 Therefore now, O Lord, I beseech You, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Do you do well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, and he made a booth there for himself. He sat there under it in the shade till 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 shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil situation. So Jonah was exceedingly glad [to have the protection] of the gourd.
7 But God prepared a cutworm when the morning dawned the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.
8 And when the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the loss of the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!
10 Then said the Lord, You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons not [yet old enough to] know their right hand from their left, and also many cattle [not accountable for sin]?
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