Saturday, April 04, 2026
4 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this [a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore [b]in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my [c]life from me, for death is better to me than life.” 4 The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”
5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of [d]it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6 So the Lord God appointed a [e]plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was [f]extremely happy about the [g]plant. 7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” 10 Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which [h]came up overnight and perished [i]overnight. 11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
Footnotes
- Jonah 4:2 Lit my word
- Jonah 4:2 Lit I was beforehand in fleeing
- Jonah 4:3 Lit soul
- Jonah 4:5 Lit the city
- Jonah 4:6 Probably a castor oil plant, and so in vv 7, 9 and 10
- Jonah 4:6 Lit greatly
- Jonah 4:6 Probably a castor oil plant, and so in vv 7, 9 and 10
- Jonah 4:10 Lit was a son of a night
- Jonah 4:10 Lit a son of a night
Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
109 O God of my praise,
Do not be silent!
2 For they have opened the [a]wicked and deceitful mouth against me;
They have spoken [b]against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they act as my accusers;
But I am in prayer.
5 Thus they have [c]repaid me evil for good
And hatred for my love.
6 Appoint a wicked man over him,
And let an [d]accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few;
Let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless
And his wife a widow.
10 Let his children wander about and beg;
And let them seek sustenance [e]far from their ruined homes.
11 Let the creditor [f]seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.
12 Let there be none to [g]extend lovingkindness to him,
Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be [h]cut off;
In a following generation let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered [i]before the Lord,
And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
That He may cut off their memory from the earth;
16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness,
But persecuted the afflicted and needy man,
And the despondent in heart, to put them to death.
17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him;
And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.
18 But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
And it entered into [j]his body like water
And like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself,
And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself.
20 [k]Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
And of those who speak evil against my soul.
21 But You, O [l]God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me;
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
And [m]my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am passing like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like the locust.
24 My knees [n]are weak from fasting,
And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.
25 I also have become a reproach to them;
When they see me, they wag their head.
26 Help me, O Lord my God;
Save me according to Your lovingkindness.
27 [o]And let them know that this is Your hand;
You, Lord, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, they shall be ashamed,
But Your servant shall be glad.
29 [p]Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor,
And [q]let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
30 With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord;
And in the midst of many I will praise Him.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from those who judge his soul.
Footnotes
- Psalm 109:2 Lit wicked mouth and the deceitful
- Psalm 109:2 Lit with
- Psalm 109:5 Lit laid upon me
- Psalm 109:6 Or adversary, Satan
- Psalm 109:10 Or out of their desolate places
- Psalm 109:11 Lit ensnare, strike at
- Psalm 109:12 Lit continue
- Psalm 109:13 Lit for cutting off
- Psalm 109:14 Lit to
- Psalm 109:18 Lit his inward parts
- Psalm 109:20 Lit This is
- Psalm 109:21 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Psalm 109:22 Lit one has pierced my heart within me
- Psalm 109:24 Or totter
- Psalm 109:27 Or That they may know
- Psalm 109:29 Or My accusers will be
- Psalm 109:29 Or they will cover