Filthy about it
Jonah was filthy about it. Absolutely ropeable. He prayed. “See? This is exactly what I said back home. It's why I bolted for Tarshish in the first place. I knew what You're like — kind, soft-hearted, slow to fire up, loaded with love, always ready to call the whole thing off. So do me a favour, Lord. Take my life. I'd rather be dead than watch this.” And the Lord said, “Is it right, you being this angry?”
Jonah was filthy about it. Absolutely ropeable.
He prayed. “See? This is exactly what I said back home. It's why I bolted for Tarshish in the first place. I knew what You're like — kind, soft-hearted, slow to fire up, loaded with love, always ready to call the whole thing off.
So do me a favour, Lord. Take my life. I'd rather be dead than watch this.”
And the Lord said, “Is it right, you being this angry?”
The vine
Jonah went out and sat down east of the city. Built himself a bit of a shelter, sat in the shade of it, and waited to see what would happen to the place. So the Lord God grew a vine up over Jonah to shade his head and take the edge off. And Jonah was over the moon about that vine. Next morning at first light, God sent a grub. It went through the vine and the vine died. Then the sun came up and God sent a scorching easterly. The sun beat down on Jonah's head till he was ready to drop. He asked to die. “I'd rather be dead than alive.”
Jonah went out and sat down east of the city. Built himself a bit of a shelter, sat in the shade of it, and waited to see what would happen to the place.
So the Lord God grew a vine up over Jonah to shade his head and take the edge off. And Jonah was over the moon about that vine.
Next morning at first light, God sent a grub. It went through the vine and the vine died.
Then the sun came up and God sent a scorching easterly. The sun beat down on Jonah's head till he was ready to drop. He asked to die. “I'd rather be dead than alive.”
The question
God said to Jonah, “Is it right, you being this angry about a vine?” “Too right it is,” said Jonah. “Angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You cared about that vine. You didn't plant it, you didn't grow it. Up in a night, gone in a night. And Nineveh — a hundred and twenty thousand people who don't know their right hand from their left, and all their animals besides. Shouldn't I care about them?”
God said to Jonah, “Is it right, you being this angry about a vine?” “Too right it is,” said Jonah. “Angry enough to die.”
And the Lord said, “You cared about that vine. You didn't plant it, you didn't grow it. Up in a night, gone in a night.
And Nineveh — a hundred and twenty thousand people who don't know their right hand from their left, and all their animals besides. Shouldn't I care about them?”