Jonah 4:1-9 ▼

1 BUT it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was greatly grieved.

2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I fled before to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient and of great kindness, and thou art ready to turn away calamity.

3 Therefore now, O my LORD, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

4 Then the LORD said to him, Are you very sorrowful?

5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made a booth for himself, and sat under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.

6 And the LORD God commanded a tender shoot of gourd to spring up, and it sprang up and came over Jonah, and became a shade over his head, and comforted him of his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the gourd.

7 But the next day at dawn, God commanded a worm, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.

8 And it came to pass when the sun arose, the LORD God commanded a sultry east wind; and it withered the gourd, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he was weary and wished that he might die, and said, O LORD, you can take my life from me, for I am not better than my fathers.

9 And the LORD God said to Jonah, Are you exceedingly grieved over the gourd? And Jonah said, I am exceedingly grieved, even unto death.