Table of Contents
Jonah 4
Jonah 4
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 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.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 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.
6 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.
7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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:
11 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?
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>Now it displeased Jonah</b>—He said, “Now the nations will say that I am a false prophet.” [from <i>Pirk&d’Rabbi Eliezer</i> ch. 10]</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>was this not my contention</b>—I know that, if they repent, You will not destroy them, and I will appear to them as a liar.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>appointed</b> Heb. וַיְמַן, an expression of preparation. [from <i>Jonathan</i>] <b>to save him from his discomfort</b>—From the heat of the sun. <b>kikayon</b>—A plant that grows high with many branches and it affords shade and that is its name.</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>attacked</b> Heb. וַתַּךְ. The worm attacked the kikayon. Where one would say for masculine וַיַךְ, he struck, he says for feminine וַתַּךְ, she struck.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>stilling</b> Heb. חֲרִישִׁית. Our Sages say: When it blows, it silences all the winds because of it, and it is very hot. So does <i>Jonathan</i> render: silencing. [from <i>Gittin</i> 31b] <b>and he fainted</b> Heb. וַיִּתְעַלָּף, <i>pasmer</i> (<i>pamer </i>), in O.F.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>for which you did not toil</b>—with plowing, sowing, or watering. <b>one night</b> Heb. בִּן-לַיְלָה, lit., one night old, like בֶּן לַיְלָה. It grew only one night.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>who do not know etc.</b>—I.e, children. <b>and many beasts as well</b>—Adult, who have the intelligence of beasts, who do not recognize who created them.</html>