Jonah 3 - 4

Ninevites Turn from Their Evil Ways

Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it this very call which I am going to speak to you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go into the city, one day’s walk; and he called out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, laid aside his mantle from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. 7 And he cried out and said,

“In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, animal, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat, and do not let them drink water.

But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God with their strength that each may turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands.

Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would bring upon them. And He did not bring it upon them.

Jonah’s Anger

But this was a great evil to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 And he prayed to Yahweh and said, “Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil. 3 So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” 4 And Yahweh said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?” 5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6 So Yahweh God appointed a plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was extremely glad about the plant. 7 But God appointed a worm at the breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and it dried up. 8 Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “Death is better to me than life.” 9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” 10 Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight and perished overnight. 11 So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”