1 This was a great evil in Jonah's eyes, and he burned with anger.
2 He prayed to the LORD: "Ah, LORD, isn't this exactly what I said while I was still at home? That is why I tried to get away to Tarshish first; I knew you are a God who is gracious and full of compassion, long-suffering and rich in steadfast love, one who relents from bringing harm.
3 So now, LORD, take my life from me, I beg you; death is better for me than life."
4 The LORD answered, "Are you right to be so angry?"
5 Jonah left the city and sat down on its east side. He built himself a hut there and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city.
6 The LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up above Jonah to shade his head and ease his misery; and Jonah was delighted with the plant.
7 But at daybreak the next morning God provided a worm, which gnawed the plant until it dried up.
8 When the sun came up, God provided a sultry east wind; the sun blazed on Jonah's head until he grew faint, and he begged to die, saying, "Death is better for me than life."
9 Then God said to Jonah, "Are you right to be so angry over the plant?" "I am right to be angry," he said, "angry enough to die."
10 The LORD said, "You cared about the plant, though you did no work for it and did not make it grow; it sprang up overnight and died overnight.
11 Should I not care, then, about Nineveh, the great city, where there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, besides a great many animals?"