Jonah 4:3-11

3 And now, Lord, I pray, take my life from me; for death is better to me than life.
4 And the Lord said, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth? (And the Lord said, Thinkest thou, that thou art right to be so angry?)
5 And Jonah went out of the city, and sat against the east of the city, and made to him a shadowing place there; and sat under it in shadow, till he saw what befell to the city. (And Jonah went out of the city, and sat down to the east of it, and made a place of shade for himself; and he sat there in the shadows/and he sat there in the shade, until he saw what befell the city.)
6 And the Lord God made ready an ivy, and it went upon the head of Jonah, that (a) shadow/that shade were on his head, and covered him; for he had travailed. And Jonah was glad on the ivy, with great gladness. (And the Lord God made ready some ivy, and it went up over Jonah's head, so that a shadow, or some shade, was over his head, and it covered him; for he had laboured so. And Jonah was glad for the ivy, yea, with great gladness.)
7 And God made ready a worm, in the going up of gray day on the morrow; and it smote the ivy, and it dried up. (And then God made ready a worm, at the dawning of the day the next morning; and it struck, or attacked, the ivy, and it dried up, and died.)
8 And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded to the hot wind and burning; and the sun smote on the head of Jonah, and he sweltered. And he asked to his soul that he should die, and said, It is better to me to die, than to live. (And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded to the hot and burning wind; and the sun shone down upon Jonah's head, and he sweated. And he said to himself that he wanted to die, yea, he said, It is better for me to die, than to live.)
9 And the Lord said to Jonah, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth on the ivy? And he said, I am well wroth, till to the death. (And the Lord said to Jonah, Thinkest thou, that thou art right to be so angry about the ivy? And he said, Yea, I am right to be so angry about it, unto the death!)
10 And the Lord said, Thou art sorry on the ivy, in which thou travailedest not, neither madest that it waxed, which was grown under one night, and perished in one night. (And the Lord said, Thou art sorry about, or thou art grieved over, the ivy, over which thou hast not laboured, nor madest that it grew, and furthermore which grew up in one night, and then perished in one night.)
11 And shall I not spare the great city Nineveh, in which be more than sixscore thousand of men, which know not what is betwixt their right half and left half, and many beasts? (And yet should I not be sorry over, and so then spare the great city Nineveh, in which be more than one hundred and twenty thousand people, who know not their right hand from their left hand, yea, and the many beasts that also be there?)

Jonah 4:3-11 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.