Jonah 4
4
Jonah's Anger and God's Mercy
1Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. 2#Ex 34.6So he prayed, “LORD, didn't I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That's why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. 3#1 Kgs 19.4Now, LORD, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.”
4The LORD answered, “What right have you to be angry?”
5Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh. 6Then the LORD God made a plant grow up over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. 7But at dawn the next day, at God's command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died. 8After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead.#4.8 wished he were dead; or prayed that he would die. “I am better off dead than alive,” he said.
9But God said to him, “What right have you to be angry about the plant?”
Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry — angry enough to die!”
10The LORD said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it, and you didn't make it grow — yet you feel sorry for it! 11How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!”
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Jonah 4: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jonah 4
4
Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion
1#Jnh 4:9; Lk 15:28Now this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. 2#Ps 86:5; 86:15He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is this not what I said while I was still in my own land? This is the reason that I fled before to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in faithfulness, and ready to relent from punishment. 3#1Ki 19:4; Ecc 7:1Therefore, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4#Jnh 4:9; Mt 20:15Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5#1Ki 19:9; 19:13So Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made for himself a booth there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city. 6Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to provide comfort from his grief. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7#Joel 1:12But at dawn the next day, God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. 8#Ps 121:6; Jnh 4:3When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he became faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And Jonah replied, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death.”
10The Lord said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and did not grow. It came up in a night and perished in a night. 11#Jnh 1:2; Dt 1:39Should I not, therefore, be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”
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