Read the Bible

Jonah’s Anger

¹ Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.^{(C1) 2} He prayed to the Lord:^(C1) “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I thought while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place.^(C2) I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,^(C3) slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.^{(C4) 3} And now, Lord, take my life from me,^(C1) for it is better for me to die than to live.”^(C2)

⁴ The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

⁵ Jonah left the city and found a place east of it.^(C1) 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, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble.^(F1) 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.^(C1)

⁸ As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind.^(C1) The sun beat down on Jonah’s head^(C2) so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”^(C3)

⁹ Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “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 But may I not care about the great city of Nineveh,^(C1) which has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left,^(C2) as well as many animals?” ^(C3)