Bible study online

Jonah 4:10

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Jonah 4:10

Verse 10 of 11

Scripture focus

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:

Jonah 4:10 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Jonah 4:10

Theological / Devotional

Thou hast had pity. The “thou” is emphatic in the Hebrew. Jonah, the angry and unsympathetic prophet, was willing to show pity and spare an inconsequential gourd of little value, and upon which he had expended no labor or toil, but was unwilling to show the same consideration to the people of the great city of Nineveh. The LXX renders the first part of the verse, “And the Lord said, Thou hadst pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not suffered, neither didst thou rear it.”

Jonah was angry that God would not destroy the Ninevites (vs. 1, 4), and angry when God permitted the gourd to wither (v. 9). What a distorted sense of values! Jonah cared more for the gourd than for the people of Nineveh.

By SdaBc