Jonas, 4
Jonah repining to see that his prophecy is not fulfilled, is reproved by the type of the ivy.
[1] And Jonah was exceedingly troubled 1, and was angry: •
Was exceedingly troubled: His concern was lest he should pass for a false prophet; or rather, lest God's word, by this occasion, might come to be slighted and disbelieved.
[2] And he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, is not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I went before to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil. •
[3] And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.
[4] And the Lord said: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry?
[5] Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of the city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would befall the city. •
[6] And the Lord God prepared an ivy 1, and it came up over the head of Jonah, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for he was fatigued): and Jonah was exceeding glad of the ivy. •
The Lord God prepared an ivy: Hederam. In the Hebrew it is Kikajon, which some render a gourd: others a palmerist, or palma Christi.
[7] But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
[8] And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he broiled with the heat: and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is better for me to die than to live. •
[9] And the Lord said to Jonah: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto death. •
[10] And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in one night perished. •
[11] And shall I not spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons, that know not how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts? •