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Jonah's Displeasure Rebuked

¹ But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became ^(C1)angry.² Then he ^(C1)prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was this not ^(F1)what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore in anticipation of this I ^(C2)fled to Tarshish, since I knew that You are a ^(C3)gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy, and One who relents of disaster.³ "So now, LORD, please ^(C1)take my ^(F1)life from me, for death is ^(C2)better to me than life."⁴ But the LORD said, "Do you have a good reason to be angry?"

⁵ Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of ^(F1)it. There he made a shelter for himself and ^(C1)sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city.⁶ So the LORD God designated a ^(F1)plant, and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to ^(F2)relieve him of his discomfort. And Jonah ^(F3)was overjoyed about the plant.⁷ But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it ^(C1)withered.⁸ And when the sun came up God designated a scorching ^(C1)east wind, and the ^(C2)sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint, and he begged with all his soul to die, saying, "^(C3)Death is better to me than life!"

⁹ But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death!"¹⁰ Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which ^(F1)came up overnight and perished ^(F2)overnight.¹¹ "Should I not also ^(C1)have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people, who do not ^(C2)know the difference between their right hand and their left, as well as many ^(C3)animals?"