Jonah 4

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 This made Jonah very indignant; he fell into a rage.	1 And Jonah was afflicted with a great affliction, and he was angry.
2 He prayed to Yahweh and said, 'Please, Yahweh, isn't this what I said would happen when I was stil inmy own country? That was why I first tried to flee to Tarshish, since I knew you were a tender, compassionateGod, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, who relents about inflicting disaster.	2 And he prayed to the Lord, and he said, “I beg you, Lord, was this not my word, when I was still in my own land? Because of this, I knew beforehand to flee into Tarshish. For I know that you are a lenient and merciful God, patient and great in compassion, and forgiving despite ill will.
3 So now, Yahweh, please take my life, for I might as wel be dead as go on living.'	3 And now, Lord, I ask you to take my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 Yahweh replied, 'Are you right to be angry?'	4 And the Lord said, “Do you really think you are right to be angry?”
5 Jonah then left the city and sat down to the east of the city. There he made himself a shelter and satunder it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city.	5 And Jonah went out of the city, and he sat opposite the east of the city. And he made himself a shelter there, and he was sitting under it in the shadow, until he might see what would befall the city.
6 Yahweh God then ordained that a castor-oil plant should grow up over Jonah to give shade for his headand soothe his ill-humour; Jonah was delighted with the castor-oil plant.	6 And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it ascended over the head of Jonah so as to be a shadow over his head, and to protect him (for he had labored hard). And Jonah rejoiced because of the ivy, with great rejoicing.
7 But at dawn the next day, God ordained that a worm should attack the castor-oil plant -- and it withered.	7 And God prepared a worm, when dawn approached on the next day, and it struck the ivy, and it dried up.
8 Next, when the sun rose, God ordained that there should be a scorching east wind; the sun beat downso hard on Jonah's head that he was overcome and begged for death, saying, 'I might as wel be dead as go onliving.'	8 And when the sun had risen, the Lord ordered a hot and burning wind. And the sun beat down on the head of Jonah, and he burned. And he petitioned for his soul that he might die, and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 God said to Jonah, 'Are you right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?' He replied, 'I have every rightto be angry, mortally angry!'	9 And the Lord said to Jonah, “Do you really think that you are right to be angry because of the ivy?” And he said, “I am right to be angry even unto death.”
10 Yahweh replied, 'You are concerned for the castor-oil plant which has not cost you any effort andwhich you did not grow, which came up in a night and has perished in a night.	10 And the Lord said, “You grieve for the ivy, for which you have not labored and which you did not cause to grow, though it had been born during one night, and during one night perished.
11 So why should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundredand twenty thousand people who cannot tel their right hand from their left, to say nothing of al the animals?'	11 And shall I not spare Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand men, who know the difference between their right and their left, and many beasts?”