Go
Articles on

Jonah 4

Jonah 4:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

+
1
But it displeased
yara` (Hebrew #3415)
properly, to be broken up (with any violent action) i.e. (figuratively) to fear
KJV usage: be grevious (only Isa. 15:4; the rest belong to 7489).
Pronounce: yaw-rah'
Origin: a primitive root
Jonah
Yonah (Hebrew #3124)
Jonah, an Israelite
KJV usage: Jonah.
Pronounce: yo-naw'
Origin: the same as 3123
exceedingly
ra` (Hebrew #7451)
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)
KJV usage: adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease(-ure), distress, evil((- favouredness), man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief(-vous), harm, heavy, hurt(-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief(-vous), misery, naught(-ty), noisome, + not please, sad(-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked(-ly, -ness, one), worse(-st), wretchedness, wrong. (Incl. feminine raaah; as adjective or noun.).
Pronounce: rah
Origin: from 7489
gadowl (Hebrew #1419)
from 1431; great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent
KJV usage: + aloud, elder(-est), + exceeding(-ly), + far, (man of) great (man, matter, thing,-er,-ness), high, long, loud, mighty, more, much, noble, proud thing, X sore, (X ) very.
Pronounce: gaw-dole'
Origin: or (shortened) gadol {gaw-dole'}
, and he was very angry
charah (Hebrew #2734)
to glow or grow warm; figuratively (usually) to blaze up, of anger, zeal, jealousy
KJV usage: be angry, burn, be displeased, X earnestly, fret self, grieve, be (wax) hot, be incensed, kindle, X very, be wroth. See 8474.
Pronounce: khaw-raw'
Origin: a primitive root (compare 2787)
.

More on:

+
Jonah

Cross References

+

Ministry on This Verse

+
1-3:  Jonah repining at God's mercy,
4-11:  is reproved by the type of a gourd.
Jonah 4:9• 9And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, unto death. (Jonah 4:9)
;
Matt. 20:15• 15is it not lawful for me to do what I will in my own affairs? Is thine eye evil because *I* am good? (Matt. 20:15)
;
Luke 7:39• 39And the Pharisee who had invited him, seeing it, spoke with himself saying, This person if he were a prophet would have known who and what the woman is who touches him, for she is a sinner. (Luke 7:39)
;
Luke 15:28• 28But he became angry and would not go in. And his father went out and besought him. (Luke 15:28)
;
Acts 13:46• 46And Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you; but, since ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the nations; (Acts 13:46)
;
James 4:5‑6• 5Think ye that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the Spirit which has taken his abode in us desire enviously?
 6But he gives more grace. Wherefore he says, God sets himself against the proud, but gives grace to the lowly. (James 4:5‑6)
• Jonah means “dove.” What was in the minds of his parents when they named him is not recorded; but the fact reminds us that it was in a bodily form like a dove the Holy Spirit descended upon the man Christ Jesus (Luke 3:22). This lovely emblem of purity, gentleness, and peace perfectly suited Him upon whom it came. But Jonah Where do we discover anything dove-like in his ways and words relative to the people of Nineveh? Surely his cruel talons are suggestive of a very different bird! (“A Strange Dove” by W.W. Fereday)
• Nineveh repented; king, nobles, and people fell low together at the feet of their justly indignant Creator. Heaven was thus filled with rejoicing, as the Lord teaches us in Luke 15 But while heaven rejoiced, it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry” (Jonah 4:1). Alas, what is man! What an exposure of the narrowness and selfishness of the human heart, even in a divinely chosen and specially favored servant of Jehovah! (“A Strange Dove” by W.W. Fereday)
• To invest himself with God’s name for his own honor, Jonah, the Jew, would not refuse. But to bear the burden necessary to the maintenance of the testimony of such a God, so gracious, so long-suffering, as well as holy, this was too hard a thing for the proud and impatient heart of a man who desired to have his own will carried out in judgment, if the others would not obey it in holiness. (“Jonah 1” by J.N. Darby)
• Jonah indeed practically set aside the fruit of the solemn discipline for his soul which he had gone through in the depths of the sea. But God was the same God; and had His own way of setting Jonah right. (“Jonah 4” by W. Kelly)
• We would expect his mouth to have been filled with laughter and his tongue with singing, as he saw the grace of God—that grace that turned his very sin to such blessing that a whole ship’s company turned to the Lord. Then, in spite of all his failure, the Lord honored His servant by letting him be the means of turning the whole of a great city to the true and living God. Surely he should have been a happy man! Such was not the case, however.... If ever a man had needed the grace and mercy of Jehovah it was Jonah himself, down in the belly of the great fish. He had been shown that grace and mercy, but now he was unwilling that others should receive what he himself had so mightily needed and had so freely been given. It reminds us of the elder son in Luke 15:28—“He was angry, and would not go in.” Angry with whom? Angry with his father. (“Jonah 4: Jonah Is Very Angry” by G.C. Willis)
• In this chapter, the Lord’s dealings with Jonah picture the deep moral work He will do in restored Israel that will make them willing to receive and share the kingdom blessings with the Gentiles, and to dwell peaceably with them in the Millennium. (“The Prophecies of Jonah” by B. Anstey)

J. N. Darby Translation

+
1
And it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angryg.

JND Translation Notes

+
g
Or "much grieved," as 1 Sam. 15.11.

W. Kelly Translation

+
1
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.