Jonah Reacts to God’s Kindness
Jonah 4But this massively displeased Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to YHWH, and said, “Please, YHWH, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? This is what I tried to prevent by fleeing to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. so now, YHWH, I beg you, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
YHWH said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen to the city. Then YHWH God appointed a vine and made it to come up over Jonah, so that it would be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was massively glad because of the vine. But at dawn the next day, God appointed a worm, and it chewed on the vine so that it withered. When the sun arose, God appointed a hot east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he became faint. He begged with his soul to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?”
He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
YHWH said, “You had compassion for the vine, for which you did not work or cause to grow, and which came up overnight and perished overnight. Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that massive city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?”