Jonah 4:5-7

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jonah 4:5-11

Jonah persists here in his discontent; for the beginning of strife both with God and man is as the letting forth of waters, the breach grows wider and wider, and, when passion gets head, bad is made worse; it should therefore be silenced and suppressed at first. We have here, I. Jonah's sullen expectation of the fate of Nineveh. We may suppose that the Ninevites, giving credit to the message he brought, were ready to give entertainment to the messenger that brought it, and to show him respect,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jonah 4:5

So Jonah went out of the city ,.... Had not the inhabitants of it repented, he had done right to go out of it, and shake the dust of his feet against it; or, in such a case, had he gone out of it, as Lot out of Sodom, when just going to be overthrown; but Jonah went out in a sullen fit, because it was to be spared; though some render the words, "now Jonah had gone out of the city" F1 ויצא "exicrat autem", Mercerus; "exivit", Cocceius. ; that is, before all this passed, recorded in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jonah 4:6

And the Lord God prepared a gourd ,.... So the Septuagint render the word; but some say that a worm will not touch that; Jerom renders it an ivy; but neither the gourd nor that rise upwards without some props to support them. The Hebrew word is "kikaion", the same with the "kiki", or "cici", of Herodotus F3 Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 94. , Dioscorides F4 L. 4. c. 164. , Strabo F5 Geograph. l. 17. p. 566. , and Pliny F6 Nat. Hist. l. 15. c. 7. ; a plant frequent in Egypt,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jonah 4:7

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day ,.... That God that prepared this plant to rise so suddenly, almost as soon prepared a worm to destroy it; for it rose up one night, continued one whole day, to the great delight of Jonah; and by the morning of the following day this worm or grub was prepared in, it, or sent to it, to the root of it: this shows that God is the Creator of the least as well as the largest of creatures, of worms as well as whales, contrary to the notion... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:5

So Jonah went out of the city - I believe this refers to what had already passed; and I therefore agree with Bp. Newcome, who translates, "Now Jonah Had gone out of the city, and Had sat," etc.; for there are many instances where verbs in the preterite form have this force, the ו vau here turning the future into the preterite. And the passage is here to be understood thus: When he had delivered his message he left the city, and went and made himself a tent, or got under some shelter on... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:6

And the Lord God prepared a gourd - I believe this should be rendered in the preterpluperfect tense. The Lord Had prepared this plant, קיקיון kikayon . It had in the course of God's providence been planted and grown up in that place, though perhaps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him, and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon ? The best judges say the ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:7

But God prepared a worm - By being eaten through the root, the plant, losing its nourishment, would soon wither; and this was the case in the present instance. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:5

Verse 5 It may be here doubted whether Jonah had waited till the forty days had passed, and whether that time had arrived; for if we say that he went out of the city before the fortieth day, another question arises, how could he have known what would be? for we have not yet found that he had been informed by any oracular communication. But the words which we have noticed intimate that it was then known by the event itself, that God had spared the city from destruction; for in the last lecture... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:6

Verse 6 Before I proceed to treat on the contents of these verses, I will say a few things on the word קיקיון, kikiun; for there were formerly some disputes respecting this word. Some render it, a gourd; (eucurbitam) others think it to have been a cucumber. Free conjectures are commonly made respecting obscure and unknown things. However, the first rendering has been the received one: and Augustine says, that a tumult arose in some church, when the Bishop rend the new interpretation of Jerome,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 4:7

Verse 7 But it is said afterwards that a worm was prepared. We see here also, that what seemed to happen by chance was yet directed by the hidden providence of God. Should any one say, that what is here narrated does not commonly happen, but what once happened; to this I answer, — that though God then designed to exhibit a wonderful example, worthy of being remembered, it is yet ever true that the gnawing even of worms are directed by the counsel of God, so that neither a herb nor a tree... read more

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