Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion 1 WBS But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. BSB BSB: Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
2 WBS And he prayed to the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest of the evil. BSB BSB: 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.
3 WBS Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. BSB BSB: And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 WBS Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? BSB BSB: But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
5 WBS So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. BSB BSB: 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 WBS But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. BSB BSB: When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
8 WBS And it came to pass, when the sun rose that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. BSB BSB: 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.”
9 WBS And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even to death. BSB BSB: Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”