New American Standard Bible 1995
Jonah 4:3
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, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” 4The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?” 5Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until 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
Cross-references for Jonah 4:3
- Numbers 11:15So if You are going to deal thus 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 thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished 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 my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
- Job 3:20“Why is light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul,
- Job 6:8“Oh that my request might come to pass, And that God would grant my longing!
- Jeremiah 20:14Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!
- Philippians 1:21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
- Jonah 4:8When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”
- Job 7:15So that my soul would choose suffocation, Death rather than my pains.
- Ecclesiastes 7:1A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
- 1 Corinthians 9:15But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.
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
Notes
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
New American Standard Bible 1995 — © 1960–1995 The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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