Jonah 44JonahJonah's anger and God's compassionPlain English Version

Plain English VersionBerean Standard Bible

1. Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion

2. 1ENGPEVBut Jonah wanted God to punish the Nineveh people. Jonah saw that God changed his mind and that God didn’t finish up the Nineveh people. So Jonah got really upset and was very angry.BSBBSB: Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
3. 2ENGPEVJonah prayed to God. He said, “God, that first time you talked to me, when I was still at home in Israel country, you told me to go and talk to the Nineveh people. But I knew that if I told the Nineveh people your message, they might stop doing bad things, and you might not finish them up. But God, I want you to finish up those Nineveh people. That is the reason why I didn’t want to go to Nineveh and tell them your message, and why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you feel sorry for people, and you are always kind. You don’t get angry quickly, and you are really good to people. You don’t do payback to people that stop doing bad things.BSBBSB: So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
4. 3ENGPEVSo, God, please finish me up. I want to die, I don’t want to live and watch you be good to the Nineveh people.”BSBBSB: And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
5. 4ENGPEVThen God said, “You are very angry. Are you thinking the right way?”BSBBSB: But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
6. 5ENGPEVThen Jonah went out of the city, to the east side. And he made a shelter for himself, and he sat under it in the shade. And he waited there to see what will happen to Nineveh.BSBBSB: Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
7. 6ENGPEVThen God made a plant grow up near Jonah, to give him shade over his head, so that he will not be so hot. And Jonah was really happy about that plant.BSBBSB: So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.
8. 7ENGPEVBut early the next day, just before the sun came up, God sent a worm to eat that plant, and that plant died.BSBBSB: When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
9. 8ENGPEVThen the sun came up, and God sent a really hot wind that came from the east. And the sun was really hot on Jonah’s head, so he felt sick. Then Jonah got angry, and he wanted to die. He said, “I don’t want to live any more. I want to die.”BSBBSB: As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
10. 9ENGPEVThen God said to Jonah, “You are very angry about that plant. Are you thinking the right way?” Then Jonah said, “Yes, I am thinking the right way. I am so angry that I want to die.”BSBBSB: Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
11. 10ENGPEVThen God said to Jonah, “You really care about that plant. But you didn’t look after it or make it grow. It grew in one night, and it died in one night.BSBBSB: But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.
12. 11ENGPEVBut you think it’s wrong that I care about Nineveh. Nineveh is a big city, and it has lots and lots of people. It has more than 120,000 people, and those people don’t know what is right and what is wrong. And there are lots of animals there too.”BSBBSB: So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”