Jonah 4:1-7

Jonah's Displeasure Rebuked

1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became ¹angry.

2 He ²prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore * in order to forestall this I ³fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a ⁴gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please ⁵take my life from me, for death is ⁶better 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 it. There he made a shelter for himself and ⁷sat under it in the shade until * he could see what would happen in the city.

6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over * Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely * happy about the plant.

7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it ⁸withered.

Jonah 4:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 4

This chapter gives us an account of Jonah's displeasure at the repentance of the Ninevites, and at the Lord's showing mercy unto them, Jon 4:1; the angry prayer of Jonah upon it, Jon 4:2,3; the Lord's gentle reproof of him for it, Jon 4:4; his conduct upon that, Jon 4:5; the gourd prepared for him; its rise, usefulness, and destruction, which raised different passions in Jonah, Jon 4:6-8; the improvement the Lord made of this to rebuke Jonah, for his displicency at the mercy he showed to the Ninevites, and to convict him of his folly, Jon 4:9-11.

Cross References

• 1. Jonah 4:4, 9; Matthew 20:15; Luke 15:28
• 2. Jeremiah 20:7
• 3. Jonah 1:3
• 4. Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Psalms 86:5, 15; Joel 2:13
• 5. 1 Kings 19:4; Job 6:8, 9
• 6. Job 7:15, 16; Ecclesiastes 7:1
• 7. 1 Kings 19:9, 13
• 8. Joel 1:12

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "my word"
• [b]. Lit "I was beforehand in fleeing"
• [c]. Lit "soul"
• [d]. Lit "the city"
• [e]. Probably a castor oil plant, and so in vv 7, 9 and 10
• [f]. Lit "greatly"
• [g]. Probably a castor oil plant, and so in vv 7, 9 and 10