And Jonas was exceedingly troubled, and was angry:
And he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, is not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I went before to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil.
And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.
And the Lord said: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry?
Then Jonas went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of the city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would befall the city.
And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for he was fatigued): and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy.
But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonas, and he broiled with the heat: and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is better for me to die than to live.
And the Lord said to Jonas: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto death.
And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in one night perished.
And shall not I spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that know not how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?
Canonical academic citations for Jonah 4 (DRB) — 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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