Jonah 4
Jonah is furious that God showed mercy, he wanted Nineveh destroyed. God teaches him through a plant that grows and dies: Jonah pities the plant but not 120,000 people. Should I not have concern for this great city? The book ends with God's question unanswered.
JonahChapter 4 of 411 versesBerean Standard Bible
In this passage: JonahTarshishNineveh
If God speaks to you through Jonah 4, record what He said in Doxa and come back to it.
Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.
When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.
So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
Read next
How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for BelieversScripture is the record of a God who speaks. This guide covers how to hear Him today and keep what He says.Cross-references for Jonah 4
“But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.”
“Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,”
“while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.””
“Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’”
“The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.”
Cross-references from OpenBible.info, licensed CC BY.
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