By Thomas J. Reese, S.J. in Peace Prayers, ed. Carrie Leadingham, Joann E. Moschella, and Hilary M.
Vartanian (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 6-7. Out of my distress I called you, O Lord, but you did not answer me. I refused to preach
repentance to the Ninevites, but you forced me. When I sailed away in the opposite
direction, you hurled a violent wind at me. Your monster swallowed me and returned me to
your path. Repentance I would not preach in Nineveh, rather I cursed them--"Forty
days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed." But you did not listen to me, you listened
to the people of Nineveh as they sat in ashes covered with sackcloth. I am angry because
you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish. If
you will not destroy Nineveh then give me death. It is better for me to die than to see my
enemy live.
See also