Jonah 4

¹And Jonas was turmentid with greet turment, and was wrooth.

²And he preiede the Lord, and seide, Lord, Y biseche, whether this is not my word, whanne Y was yit in my lond? For this thing Y purposide, for to fle in to Tharsis; for Y woot, that thou, God, art meke and merciful, pacient, and of merciful doyng, and foryyuynge on malice.

³And now, Lord, Y preie, take my soule fro me; for deth is betere to me than lijf.

⁴And the Lord seide, Gessist thou, whether thou art wel wrooth?

⁵And Jonas wente out of the citee, and sat ayens the eest of the citee, and made to hym a schadewyng place there; and sat vndur it in schadewe, til he sai what bifelle to the citee.

⁶And the Lord God made redy an yuy, and it stiede vp on the heed of Jonas, that schadewe were on his heed, and kyueride hym; for he hadde trauelid. And Jonas was glad on the yuy, with greet gladnesse.

⁷And God made redi a worm, in stiyng up of grei dai on the morewe; and it smoot the yuy, and it driede up.

⁸And whanne the sunne was risun, the Lord comaundide to the hoot wynd and brennyng; and the sunne smoot on the heed of Jonas, and he swalide. And he axide to his soule that he schulde die, and seide, It is betere to me for to die, than for to lyue.

⁹And the Lord seide to Jonas, Gessist thou, whether thou art wel wrooth on the yuy? And he seide, Y am wel wrooth, til to the deth.

¹⁰And the Lord seide, Thou art sori on the yuy, in which thou trauelidist not, nether madist that it wexide, which was growun vndur o nyyt, and perischide in o nyyt.

¹¹And schal Y not spare the grete citee Nynyue, in which ben more than sixe score thousynde of men, which witen not what is betwixe her riyt half and left, and many beestis?

Jonah 4

¹But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

²And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

³Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

⁴Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

⁵So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

⁶And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

⁷But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

⁸And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

⁹And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

¹⁰Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

¹¹And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?