HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1187
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is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you
are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to
get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are
eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just
kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive
if what I predicted will not happen.”
4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be
angry about this?”
5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the
city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited
to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the
Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow
there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over
Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This
eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
4:11 Hebrew people who don’t know their right hand from
their left.
JONAH 4
7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next
morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem
of the plant so that it withered away. 8 And as the
sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east
wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on
his head until he grew faint and wished to die.
“Death is certainly better than living like this!”
he exclaimed.
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to
be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough
to die!”
10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about
the plant, though you did nothing to put it there.
It came quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh
has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness,* not to mention all the animals.
Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”