About Jonah

Jonah's story reveals God's mercy extending even to Israel's enemies and challenges narrow views of divine grace.

Author: JonahWritten: c. 785-760 BCReading time: ~1 minVerses: 11
CompassionObedienceMercyRepentanceUniversal GraceSovereignty

King James Version

Jonah 4

11 verses with commentary

Jonah's Anger at the Lord's Mercy

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly , and he was very angry.

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.</strong> Nineveh's repentance triggers Jonah's rage rather than joy. The Hebrew <em>vayyera el-Yonah ra'ah gedolah vayyichar lo</em> (וַיֵּרַע אֶל־יוֹנָה רָעָה גְדוֹלָה וַיִּחַר לוֹ) literally reads "and it was evil to Jonah, a great evil, and it burned to him." The phrase "displeased... exceedingly" (<em>ra'ah gedolah</em>) uses ...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

IV. JONAH’S DISCONTENT AND CORRECTION. (1) **But it displeased Jonah.**—The Hebrew (*it was evil to*) is stronger. The prophet was vexed and irritated. **He was very angry.**—Literally, *it* (anger) *burnt to him.* David’s feeling at the death of Uzziah (2Samuel 6:8; 1Chronicles 13:11) is described in the same terms. Selfish jealousy for his own reputation, jealousy for the honour of the prophetic...
Read full commentary →

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. The redivision of the land: the boundaries. The latter are substantially the same as those given by Moses in Nu 34:1-29; they here begin with the north, but in Numbers they begin with the south (Nu 34:3). It is only Canaan proper, exclusive of the possession of the two and a half tribes beyond Jordan, that is here divided. **Joseph ... two portions--**according to the original promise of Jac...
Read full commentary →

And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

View commentary

KJV Study Commentary

This verse contains Jonah's astonishing confession explaining why he initially fled to Tarshish—he knew God would show mercy to Nineveh, and he didn't want that to happen. His prayer quotes the classic Old Testament formula describing God's character (Exodus 34:6-7, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, Joel 2:13), yet Jonah cites it as a complaint rather than praise. This reveals the shocking reality that ...
Read full commentary →

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.</strong> After witnessing Nineveh's repentance and God's mercy, Jonah responds not with joy but death wish. The Hebrew <em>ve-attah YHWH qach-na nafshi mimmeni ki tov moti mechayai</em> (וְעַתָּה יְהוָה קַח־נָא נַפְשִׁי מִמֶּנִּי כִּי־טוֹב מוֹתִי מֵחַיָּי) reveals profound spiritual d...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3) **Take, I beseech thee.**—We naturally refer to the history of Elijah for a similar weariness and disgust of life. (Comp. also the case of Moses, Numbers 11:15). It should be noticed, as a contrast of Hebrew with heathen feeling, that none of these men in their loathing of life contemplated the possibility of suicide.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**15. Zedad--**on the north boundary of Canaan.

Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? Doest: or, Art thou greatly angry?

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?</strong> God's response is one gentle question. The Hebrew <em>ha-hetev charah lakh</em> (הַהֵיטֵב חָרָה לָךְ) literally asks: "Is it good, this burning [anger] for you?" The verb <em>charah</em> (חָרָה) means to burn, be kindled, grow hot—anger as consuming fire. The interrogative <em>ha-hetev</em> (הַהֵיטֵב) doesn't just ask "Are you angry...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **Doest thou well?** . . .—This rendering may be supported by Deuteronomy 5:28; Jeremiah 1:12, and agrees better with the context than the marginal translation, which follows the LXX., and is undoubtedly a very likely rendering of the Hebrew idiom if taken by itself. Jonah apparently gave his own interpretation to the question, one that suited his mood, “Is thine anger just?” Such a question m...
Read full commentary →

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**16. Hamath--**As Israel was a separate people, so their land was a separate land. On no scene could the sacred history have been so well transacted as on it. On the east was the sandy desert. On the north and south, mountains. On the west, an inhospitable sea-shore. But it was not always to be a separate land. Between the parallel ranges of Lebanon is the long valley of El-Bekaa, leading to "the...
Read full commentary →

The Lord's Lesson

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.</strong> Despite God's question (4:4), Jonah doesn't answer but acts—he exits Nineveh, builds a shelter, and waits. The Hebrew <em>vayetse Yonah min-ha'ir vayyeshev miqqedem la-'ir vaya'as lo sham sukkah</em> (וַיֵ...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) **So Jonah went out.**—The explanation given in the preceding note avoids the necessity of giving the verb in this clause a pluperfect force, which else would be necessary to account for the prophet’s continued expectation of the destruction of Nineveh after his irritation at the Divine clemency towards it. **Booth**—*i.e.,* of boughs, like those used at the Feast of Tabernacles. (See next Not...
Read full commentary →

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**17. Hazar-enan--**a town in the north of Canaan, meaning "village of fountains."

And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. gourd: or, palmcrist: Heb. Kikajon was: Heb. rejoiced with great joy

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.</strong> The first of four divinely "prepared" things (plant, worm, wind, city—4:6,7,8; 3:2). The Hebrew <em>vayeman YHWH-Elohim qiqayon vaya'al me'al le-Yonah lihyot tsel al-rosho lehatsilo mera'ato</em> dem...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) **Prepared.**—See Note, Jonah 1:17. **A gourd.**—So the LXX. render the Hebrew *qiqaion,* which, since the time of Jerome, has been usually identified with the Arabic *el keroa,* the castor-oil tree (*Ricinus communis,* or *Palma Christi*; see margin). It is a large shrub, having large palmate leaves, with serrated lobes, and spikes of blossoms which produce the seed, whence the well-known med...
Read full commentary →

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**18. east sea--**the Dead Sea. The border is to go down straight to it by the valley of the Jordan. So Nu 34:11, 12.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.</strong> The second "prepared" thing—<em>vayeman ha-Elohim tola'at ba'alot hashachar mimochorat vattak et-haqiqayon vayyibash</em> (וַיְמַן הָאֱלֹהִים תּוֹלַעַת בַּעֲלוֹת הַשַּׁחַר מִמָּחֳרָת וַתַּךְ אֶת־הַקִּיקָיוֹן וַיִּבָשׁ). A tiny worm (<em>tola'at</em>, תּוֹלַעַת) destroys what brough...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7) **A worm.**—Possibly to be taken collectively, as in Isaiah 14:11, for a swarm of caterpillars.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**19. Tamar--**not Tadmor in the desert, but Tamar, the last town of Judea, by the Dead Sea. Meaning "palm tree"; so called from palm trees abounding near it.

And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. vehement: or, silent

View commentary (2 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.</strong> The third "prepared" thing—<em>vayehi kizroach hashamesh vayeman Elohim ruach qadim charishit vattak hashamesh al-rosh Yonah vayit'allaf vayish'al et-nafsho la...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(8) **Vehement east wind.**—The derivation from a root meaning *silent* (see margin) points to what travellers describe as the “quiet kind of sirocco,” which is often more overpowering than the more boisterous kind. (See Thomson, *The Land and the *‘*Book,* pp. 536, 537.) Ewald, however, derives differently, and makes it a *rough, scrapy, stingy* wind. **Fainted.**—See Jonah 2:7. Here the effect o...
Read full commentary →

And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Doest: or, Art thou greatly angry? I do well: or, I am greatly angry

View commentary (2 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.</strong> God repeats His question from 4:4, now specifying the object—<em>ha-hetev charah lekha al-haqiqayon</em> (הַהֵיטֵב חָרָה לְךָ עַל־הַקִּיקָיוֹן): "Is it good, your burning anger, concerning the plant?" Jonah's response is shocking: <em>hetev charah-li ad-mavet</em>...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) **Doest thou well **. . .?—See Note to Jonah 4:4. Jonah was really hurt at the loss of his shade, not sorry for the destruction of the gourd. But it is very true to nature that the moment a worthier excuse is suggested, he accepts it, without perceiving that by so doing he prepared the way for his own condemnation. The lesson is to all who would sacrifice the cause of humanity to some professi...
Read full commentary →

Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night , and perished in a night : had pity: or, spared came: Heb. was the son of the night

View commentary (3 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night</strong>—God's climactic argument. The Hebrew <em>attah chasta al-haqiqayon asher lo-amalta bo velo giddaltho shebin-lailah hayah ubin-lailah abad</em> (אַתָּה חַסְתָּ עַל־הַקִּיקָיוֹן אֲשֶׁר לֹא־עָמַלְתָּ בּוֹ וְלֹא גִדַּלְתּו...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10) **Which came up.**—The original is one of those forcible idioms impossible to reproduce, *which son of a night was, and son of a night perished.*

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**22. to the strangers--**It is altogether unprecedented under the old covenant, that "strangers" should have "inheritance" among the tribes. There would not be room locally within Canaan for more than the tribes. The literal sense must therefore be modified, as expressing that Gentiles are not to be excluded from settling among the covenant-people, and that spiritually their privileges are not to...
Read full commentary →

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

View commentary (2 sources)

KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?</strong> The book's final verse and climactic question—<em>va-ani lo achus al-Nineveh ha'ir haggedolah asher yesh-bah harbeh mishteim-esreh ribbo adam asher lo-yada bein-yemino lismolo uvehemah rabbah</em> (...
Read full commentary →

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(11) **More than** . . .—This number of infants, 120,000, according to the usual reckoning, gives a population of 600,000. **And also much cattle.**—This, which at first reads like an anti-climax, is really, perhaps, the most striking thing in the whole of this marvellous book. Already the idea that a sympathy could exist between Jonah and the gourd has seemed to anticipate by thousands of years t...
Read full commentary →

Test Your Knowledge

Continue Your Study