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4
God said it was more right for him to spare the Ninevites than to spare the vine he sent to spare Jonah
1 But Jonah was very distressed that God had not destroyed Nineveh. He became very angry. The people of Nineveh were non-Jews, and Jonah did not think that God should act mercifully toward anyone who was not a Jew. 2 He prayed to Yahweh, “O Yahweh, what you have done is what I thought that you would do, before I left home. [RHQ] That is why I decided immediately to run away, and go to Tarshish land, because I knew that you, O God, act very kindly and compassionately toward all people. You do not quickly become angry with people who do evil. You love people very much, and you change your mind about punishing people who sin. 3 So now, O Yahweh, since you will not destroy Nineveh city as you said you would, allow me to die, because it would be better for me to die than to continue to live.”
4 Yahweh replied, “◄Why is it right for you to be angry about my not destroying the city?/It is not right for you to be angry about my not destroying the city!►” [RHQ]
5 Jonah did not reply. He went out of the city to the east side of it. He made a small shelter in order that he could sit under it and be protected from the sun. He sat under the shelter and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then Yahweh God caused a vine to grow up immediately to shade Jonah's head from the sun and make him feel more comfortable. Jonah was very happy about having the vine over his head. 7 But before dawn the next day, God sent a worm that chewed the vine, with the result that the vine withered. 8 Then, when the sun rose high in the sky, God sent a very hot wind from the east, and the sun shone very strongly on Jonah's head, with the result that he felt faint. He wanted to die, and he said, “It would be better for me to die than to continue to live!”
9 But God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about what happened to the vine?” Jonah replied, “ Yes, it is right! Now I am very angry and I want to die!”
10 But Yahweh said to him, “You have been concerned about my causing that vine to wither, even though you did not take care of it, and you did not make it grow. It just grew up during one night, and it completely withered at the end of the next night. 11 But there are more than 120,000 people in Nineveh who are very young, and because of that, they cannot tell which is their right hand and which is their left hand, and there are also many cattle, and none of these have done anything to displease me. So ◄is it not right for me to be concerned about the people of that huge city, and not want to destroy them?/it is certainly right for me to be concerned about the people of that huge city and not want to destroy them!► [RHQ]”

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Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.

© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.