New King James Version
Jonah 4:3
3Therefore now, O Lord, please 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 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 became angry. 2So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, 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
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jonah 4:3
- Numbers 11:15If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”
- Numbers 20:3And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only 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 broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
- Job 3:20“Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,
- Job 6:8“Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for!
- Jeremiah 20:14Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
- Philippians 1:21For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
- Jonah 4:8And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
- Job 7:15So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body.
- 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, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries