The Books of the Bible The Prophets | Page 7

6 | Jonah Jonah | 6 ­ lant and made it grow up over Jo­nah to give ­shade for his head to p ease his dis­com­fort, and Jo­nah was very hap­py a ­ bout the p ­ lant. But at dawn the next day God pro­vid­ed a worm, ­which c ­ hewed the p ­ lant so that it with­ered. When the sun rose, God pro­v id­ed a scorch­ing east wind, and the sun b ­ lazed on Jo­nah’s head so that he grew f ­ aint. He want­ed to die, and said, “It ­would be bet­ter for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jo­nah, “Is it r ­ ight for you to be an­gry ­about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so an­gry I wish I were dead.” But the Lord said, “You have been con­cerned ­about this p ­ lant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It s ­ prang up over­night and died over­night. And s ­ hould I not have con­cern for the g ­ reat city of Nin­e­veh, in ­which t ­ here are more than a hun­dred and twen­ty thou­sand peo­ple who can­not tell t ­ heir r ­ ight hand from t ­ heir left — ​ and also many an­i­mals?” 4:7–4:11 4:7–4:11