Jonah 4

Rather than rejoicing, Jonah is furious, and now his true reason for fleeing comes out: he knew God was “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” and he did not want that mercy given to Nineveh. He asks to die. God appoints a plant to grow up and shade Jonah, which delights him, then appoints a worm to destroy it and a scorching wind and sun to beat down, until Jonah again wishes to die. God draws out the lesson: Jonah pitied a plant he did not make or tend; should not God pity Nineveh, “in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” The book ends with that searching question hanging in the air.