Jonah’s Anger at Yahweh’s Compassion

1And it was evil to Jonah—a great evil—and he became hot at it. 2And he prayed to YHWH and said, “Ah, YHWH, was not this my word while I was in my own land? Upon thus, I acted beforehand to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving devotion, and one who relents from disaster. 3And now, O YHWH, take, please, my soul from me, for better is my death than my life.”

4And YHWH said, “Is it right for you to be hot?”

5And Jonah went out from the city, and sat on the east of the city; and he made for himself there a shelter, and he sat under it in the shade, until that he might see what would become of the city. 6And YHWH God appointed a qiqayon,† and He made it come up above Jonah to be shade over his head to deliver him from his trouble. And Jonah was glad about the plant with great joy.

7And God appointed a worm at the rising of the dawn on the next day, and it struck the qiqayon, and it withered.

8And it came to pass at the rising of the sun that God appointed a scorching wind from the east, and the sun beat on the head of Jonah. And he became faint, and he asked for his soul to die, and said, “Better is my death than my life!”

9And God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be hot about the qiqayon?”

And he said, “It is right; it burns in me, even to death!”

10And YHWH said, “You have concern over the qiqayon, for which you have not toiled, and you have not made it grow; as a son of a night came to be, and as a son of a night it perished. 11And I, should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city, in which are more than twelve myriad people who do not know between their right hand to their left hand, and many animals?”