Jonah 4:1
in Jonah 4Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
KJV
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
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This verse in Jonah 4
Commentary
11 notes on this verse"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. [And he prayed unto the LORD, and said]" LXX: 'Jonah was saddened by a great sadness, and he was confounded. And he prayed to the Lord, and he said'. Seeing the crowd of gentiles enter [Rom. 11:25], and that fulfils what is written in Deuteronomy: "they annoyed me with these gods who are not gods, so I will annoy them with a people that is not one; I shall anger them like a foolish nation" [Deut. 32:21].
This site's exposition
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly
on Jonah 4:1-3
Jonah's anger erupts the moment mercy is confirmed: Nineveh spared displeases him exceedingly, and he asks the Lord to take his life rather than let him live to see it stand. His prayer names the reason he fled to Tarshish in the first place, quoting back to God his own self-description, a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil, the same formula the Lord proclaimed of himself at Sinai. Jonah preached judgment and got mercy, and the prophet who ran from that mercy for Nineveh now begs to die rather than watch it stand. Calvin reads the prayer as Jonah's confession turned complaint, the truth about God's character used as an accusation against God's own kindness.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets: Jonah · Written before 444.
proposed
When God pitied those who by their repentance were warding off the things that come from wrath, and when the appointed time had already come to its end, after which it was likely that the thing foretold would happen, and then when none of the expected things had happened, the blessed Jonah was greatly grieved, and not because the city had escaped destruction; for this would be the mark of a wicked and envious man, and in no way fitting for a saint; but because he seemed to be a liar and a buffoon, and to have disturbed them in vain, and to be speaking things from his own mind, and not at all the things from the mouth of the Lord, as it is written.
A commentator
John ChrysostomHOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 2:20 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
After he preached in the midst of Nineveh, he went out of the city in order to observe if anything should happen. When he saw that three days had passed and nothing had happened anywhere near what was threatened, he then put forward his first thought and said, "Are these not my words that I was saying that God is merciful and longsuffering and repents for people's evils?"
But God will reply by the mouth of Jeremiah, "At what instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning what I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. And at what instant I will speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it does evil in my sight, that it obeys not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them." Jonah was indignant because, at God's command, he had spoken falsely; but his sorrow was proved to be ill founded, since he would rather speak truth and have a countless multitude perish than speak falsely and have them saved.
The Reformation1 voice
Though the beginning may not have been wrong, yet excess was sinful. But he confesses that there was excess, and want of moderation in his grief: since then he accuses himself in plain words what good is it, by false and invented pretenses, to cover what we clearly see cannot be excused?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(3.) That he had so little affection for men as to be displeased and very angry at the conversion of the Ninevites and their reception into the divine favour. This was the sin of the scribes and Pharisees, who murmured at our Saviour because he entertained publicans and sinners; but is our eye evil because his is good?
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. Jonah was "mirabilis homo", as one calls him, an "amazing man"; the strangest, oddest, and most out of the way man, for a good man and a prophet, as one shall ever hear or read of.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And Jonah was displeased exceedingly - It was an untempered zeal. The prophet himself records it as such, and how he was reproved for it. He would, like many of us, govern God’s world better than God Himself. Short-sighted and presumptuous! Yet not more short-sighted than those who, in fact, quarrel with God’s Providence, the existence of evil, the baffling of good, “the prison walls of obstacles and trials,” in what we would do for God’s glory. What is all discontent, but anger with God?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Jonah was grieved because Nineveh's preservation, after his denunciation, made him seem a false prophet [CALVIN]. But it would make Jonah a demon, not a man, to have preferred the destruction of six hundred thousand men rather than that his prophecy should be set aside through God's mercy triumphing over judgment.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly - This hasty, and indeed inconsiderate prophet, was vexed because his prediction was not fulfilled. He had more respect to his high sense of his own honor than he had to the goodness and mercy of God. He appeared to care little whether six hundred and twenty thousand persons were destroyed or not, so he might not pass for a deceiver, or one that denounced a falsity. And he was very angry - Because the prediction was not literally fulfilled; for he totally lost sight of the condition.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Now it displeased Jonah —He said, “Now the nations will say that I am a false prophet.” [from Pirké d’Rabbi Eliezer ch. 10]
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And this displeased Jonah as greatly evil, and he raised an objection.
was this not my contention —I know that, if they repent, You will not destroy them, and I will appear to them as a liar.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֥רַע | vaiyera' | and it was displeasing | H7489 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יוֹנָ֖ה | yonah | Jonah | H3124 → | 19 times |
| רָעָ֣ה | raah | displeasure | H7451 → | 662 times |
| גְדוֹלָ֑ה | gedolah | great | H1419 → | 526 times |
| וַיִּ֖חַר | vaiyichar | and it burned | H2734 → | 91 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | to <the> him |
וַיֵּ֥רַעand it was displeasing
vaiyera'H7489 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יוֹנָ֖הJonah
yonahH3124 →19 times
רָעָ֣הdispleasure
raahH7451 →662 times
גְדוֹלָ֑הgreat
gedolahH1419 →526 times
וַיִּ֖חַרand it burned
vaiyicharH2734 →91 times
לֽוֹ׃to <the> him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 7:39When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she…
it leads to
Through
Jonah 4:4But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
it leads to
- Jonah 4:9
Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 20:15
Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
- Jonah 4:9
Through
Matthew 20:15Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
it leads to
- Romans 9:15–24
For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Deuteronomy 15:9
Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He…
- Matthew 6:23
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
- Mark 7:22
greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.
- Romans 9:15–24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Jonah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets: Jonah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 4; Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.6; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 2:20; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.