Jonah 4:1-10 ▼

1 Greatly displeased, Jonah flew into a rage.

2 So he prayed to the LORD, |LORD, isn't this what I said while I was still in my home country? That's why I fled previously to Tarshish, because I knew you're a compassionate God, slow to anger, overflowing with gracious love, and reluctant to send trouble.

3 Therefore, LORD, please kill me, because it's better for me to die than to live!|

4 The LORD replied, |Does being angry make you right?|

5 Then Jonah left the city and sat down on the eastern side. There he made a shelter for himself and sat down under its shade to see what would happen to the city.

6 The LORD God prepared a vine plant, and it grew over Jonah to shade his head and provide relief from his misery. Jonah was happy—indeed, he was ecstatic—about the vine plant.

7 But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm that attacked the vine plant so that it withered away.

8 When the sun rose, God prepared a harsh east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah's head, he became faint, and he begged to die. |It is better for me to die than to live!| he said.

9 Then God asked Jonah, |Is your anger about the vine plant justified?| And he answered, |Absolutely! I'm so angry I could die!|

10 But the LORD asked, |You cared about a vine plant that you neither worked on nor cultivated? A vine plant that grew up overnight and died overnight?