Jonah gets ticked
1This bent Jonah out of shape. He was one ticked prophet. 2He prayed this prayer:“I knew it. I knew you’d do this. LORD, you did exactly what I said you would do when I was back home in my own country. That’s why I tried to skip out to Tarshish. I know you’re full of compassion and kindness. I know you’re patient and you’ve got a slow fuse to anger. You’re so kind that you back away from your threats of punishment. You don’t carry through with it.
3Well, doggone it, LORD just go ahead and kill me now! I’d rather die than live with this.” [1]
4The LORD said, “Don’t you think you might be overreacting a bit?”
5Jonah walked away. He left town and rested east of the city. [2] He set up a little shade for protection. Then he sat there looking at the city, to see what would happen.
6The LORD God set up his own shade for Jonah. It was a bush that grew to above Jonah’s head. God did this to send a little comfort to Jonah. The bush made Jonah’s day. 7But at dawn, God sent a worm to kill the bush. The bush withered and died.
8As the sun rose higher, God sent a hot wind. Jonah nearly fainted from the heat. Again, he asked God to put him out of his misery. He said, “If you want to help me, kill me. I’ll be better off.”
9God said, “Do you think you have the right to be angry about the bush?” Jonah said, “Absolutely. I’m mad enough to die.”
10The LORD said, “Look at it this way. You cared about a bush even though you didn’t plant it or water it. That bush was here one day and gone the next. 11But it’s not okay for me to care about this huge city of Nineveh? There are more than 120,000 people here who know right from wrong. And there are a lot of animals, too.”[11]
