Amplified Bible
Jonah 4:3
3Therefore now, O Lord, just take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah 4:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
- New International Version (NIV)Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
Context of Jonah 4:3
1But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I ran to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, and [when sinners turn to You] You revoke the [sentence of] disaster [against them]. Therefore now, O Lord, just take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4Then the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” 5Then Jonah went out of the city and sat east of it. There he made himself a shelter and sat under its shade so that he could see what would happen in the city.
Read all of Jonah 4Jonah 4:3 word by word
וְעַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה קַח־נָ֥א אֶת־נַפְשִׁ֖י מִמֶּ֑נִּי כִּ֛י ט֥וֹב מוֹתִ֖י מֵחַיָּֽי׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jonah 4:3
- Numbers 11:15So if this is the way You are going to deal with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”
- Numbers 20:3The people contended with Moses, and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished [in the plague] before the Lord!
- 1 Kings 19:4But he himself traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
- Job 3:20“Why is the light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter in soul,
- Job 6:8“Oh that my request would come to pass, And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
- Jeremiah 20:14Cursed be the day on which I was born; Do not bless the day on which my mother gave birth to me!
- Philippians 1:21For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].
- Jonah 4:8When the sun came up God prepared a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he fainted and he wished to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
- Job 7:15So that I would choose suffocation, Death rather than my pain.
- Ecclesiastes 7:1A good name is better than precious perfume, And the day of one’s death better than the day of one’s birth.
- 1 Corinthians 9:15But I have used none of these privileges, nor am I writing this [to suggest] that any such provision be made for me now. For it would be better for me to die than to have anyone deprive me of my boast [in this matter of financial support].
Commentaries on Jonah 4:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Take, I beseech thee, my life from me - נפשי את נא קח kach na eth naphshi, "Take, I beseech thee, even my Soul." Do not let me survive this disgrace. Thou hast spared this city. I thought thou wouldst do so, because thou art merciful and gracious, and it was on this account that I refused to go at first, as I knew that thou mightest change thy purpose, though thou hadst commanded me to make an absolute denunciation of judgment. God has left this example…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech Thee my life from me - He had rather die, than see the evil which was to come upon his country. Impatient though he was, he still cast himself upon God. By asking of God to end his life, he, at least, committed himself to the sovereign disposal of God. “Seeing that the Gentiles are, in a manner, entering in, and that those words are being fulfilled, Deuteronomy 32:21. “They have moved Me to jealousy with” that which…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-5Jonah’s desire to die rather than accept God’s will (see also Jonah 4:8–9) and his choice to wait in hope that the city would be destroyed (Jonah 4:5) show his hard heart (his refusal to change or show mercy) and his hatred for the Assyrians.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Jonah's impatience of life under disappointed hopes of Israel's reformation through the destruction of Nineveh, is like that of Elijah at his plan for reforming Israel (1Ki 18:1-46) failing through Jezebel (1Ki 19:4).Read the comment
Topics related to Jonah 4:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jonah 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- Darby Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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