And it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Ah, Jehovah, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I was minded to flee at first unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
And now, Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
And Jehovah said, Doest thou well to be angry?
And Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
And Jehovah Elohim 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 trouble. And Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he fainted; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, unto death.
And Jehovah said, Thou hast pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
and I, should not I have pity on Nineveh, the great city, wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Canonical academic citations for Jonah 4 (DBT) — copy in your preferred format.
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Jonah is furious at God’s mercy. Outside the city he builds a shelter; God grows a plant to shade him, delighting Jonah, then sends a worm to kill it and a scorching east wind. God confronts Jonah: if he pities a perishing plant, should not God pity the 120,000-plus people (and cattle) of Nineveh? The book ends with that probing question about divine compassion.
Prophet's flight and Nineveh's repentance illustrate divine mercy.
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