Chapter 4

¹ But Jonas was very deeply grieved, and he was confounded. ² And he prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord, were not these my words when I was yet in my land? therefore I ¹made haste to flee to Tharsis; because I knew that thou are merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in kindness, and repentest of evil. ³ And now, ²Lord God, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. ⁴ And the Lord said to Jonas, Art thou very much grieved?

⁵ And Jonas went out from the city, and sat over against the city; and he made for himself there a booth, and he sat under it, until he should perceive what would become of the city. ⁶ And the Lord God commanded a gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, to shade him from his calamities: and Jonas rejoiced with great joy for the gourd.

⁷ And God commanded a worm the next morning, and it smote the gourd, and it withered away. ⁸ And it came to pass at the rising of the sun, that God commanded a burning east wind; and the sun smote on the head of Jonas, and he fainted, and despaired of his life, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. ⁹ And God said to Jonas, Art thou very much grieved for the gourd? And he said, I am very much grieved, even to death.

¹⁰ And the Lord said, Thou hadst pity on the gourd, for which thou has not suffered, neither didst thou rear it; which came up ³before night, and perished before another night: ¹¹ and shall not I spare Nineve, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of human beings, who do not know their right hand or their left hand; and also much cattle?

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