Jonah 4, side by side
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Scene 8: Jonah Is AngryVerses 1 to 4
You might expect Jonah to be happy. He was not. He was very upset, and he became angry.
Then Jonah told God why he had run away. "I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion" (4:2).
Gracious means giving good things people don't earn. Compassionate means caring about people who hurt.
Jonah did not run because he thought God was cruel. He ran because he knew God might forgive Nineveh.
Jonah was so angry that he asked God to let him die.
God answered with a question. "Have you any right to be angry?" (4:4).
1Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry. 2So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster. 3And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
Scene 9: The Plant and the WormVerses 5 to 9
Jonah left the city. He sat down east of it and made a little shelter. He waited to see what would happen to Nineveh.
God made a leafy plant grow up over Jonah. It gave him shade. Jonah was very happy about the plant.
The next morning, God sent a worm. It chewed the plant, and the plant dried up.
Then God sent a hot east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah's head. He felt faint. Again he said he would rather die.
God asked if Jonah had a right to be angry about the plant. Jonah said yes. He said he was angry enough to die.
5Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. 6So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. 8As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
Scene 10: God's QuestionVerses 10 to 11
Then God explained. Jonah cared about the plant. But Jonah had not planted it or made it grow. It came up in one night and died in one night.
God asked, "So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?" (4:11).
"Cannot tell their right hand from their left" is a saying. One likely meaning: they did not know any better. It is not about people who mix up left and right.
The book ends there. We never hear Jonah's answer. The question is left for us.
10But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night. 11So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
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