King James Version
Jonah 4:3
3Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Jonah 4:3 in other versions
- 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!”
- New Living Translation (NLT)Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
Context of Jonah 4:3
1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2And 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. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? 5So 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.
Read all of Jonah 4Jonah 4:3 word by word
וְעַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה קַח־נָ֥א אֶת־נַפְשִׁ֖י מִמֶּ֑נִּי כִּ֛י ט֥וֹב מוֹתִ֖י מֵחַיָּֽי׃ סRead the interlinear
Cross-references for Jonah 4:3
- Numbers 11:15And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
- Numbers 20:3And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!
- 1 Kings 19:4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
- Job 3:20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
- Job 6:8Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
- Jeremiah 20:14Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
- Philippians 1:21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- Jonah 4:8And 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.
- Job 7:15So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
- Ecclesiastes 7:1A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
- 1 Corinthians 9:15But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
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
King James Version — Public Domain except in the United Kingdom (Crown rights)
Commentaries