New English Translation
Jonah 4:3
3So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than 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
1This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. 2He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!” 4The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?” 5Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to 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 11:15But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”
- Numbers 20:3The people contended with Moses, saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!
- 1 Kings 19:4while he went a day’s journey into the desert. He went and sat down under a shrub and asked the Lord to take his life: “I’ve had enough! Now, O Lord, take my life. After all, I’m no better than my ancestors.”
- Job 3:20“Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,
- Job 6:8“Oh that my request would be realized, and that God would grant me what I long for!
- Jeremiah 20:14Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.
- Philippians 1:21For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
- Jonah 4:8When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, “I would rather die than live!”
- Job 7:15so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life.
- Ecclesiastes 7:1A good reputation is better than precious perfume; likewise, the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
- 1 Corinthians 9:15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. In fact, it would be better for me to die than – no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting!
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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