[1] But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. [2] And he
prayed to the LORD and said, "I pray thee, LORD, is not this what I said
when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish;
for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love, and repentest of evil. [3] Therefore now, O
LORD, take my life from me, I beseech thee, for it is better for me to die
than to live." [4] And the LORD said, "Do you do well to be angry?" [5]
Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, and made a
booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see
what would become of the city. [6] And the LORD God appointed a plant, and
made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save
him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the
plant. [7] But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm which
attacked the plant, so that it withered. [8] When the sun rose, God
appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so
that he was faint; and he asked that he might die, and said, "It is better
for me to die than to live." [9] But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to
be angry for the plant?" And he said, "I do well to be angry, angry enough
to die." [10] And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not
labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night, and
perished in a night. [11] And should not I pity Nin'eveh, that great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do
not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"
