Jonah 4:1

But Jonah wanted God to punish the Nineveh people. Jonah saw that God changed his mind and that God didn’t finish up the Nineveh people. So Jonah got really upset and was very angry.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

In Context

2Jonah prayed to God. He said, “God, that first time you talked to me, when I was still at home in Israel country, you told me to go and talk to the Nineveh people. But I knew that if I told the Nineveh people your message, they might stop doing bad things, and you might not finish them up. But God, I want you to finish up those Nineveh people. That is the reason why I didn’t want to go to Nineveh and tell them your message, and why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you feel sorry for people, and you are always kind. You don’t get angry quickly, and you are really good to people. You don’t do payback to people that stop doing bad things.

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Cross References

Jonah 4:9Then God said to Jonah, “You are very angry about that plant. Are you thinking the right way?” Then Jonah said, “Yes, I am thinking the right way. I am so angry that I want to die.”

Luke 7:39Simon, the Pharisee man, he saw her do that, and he said to himself, “I knew it. This man is not one of God’s men. He is letting a bad woman touch him. I reckon he doesn’t know she did a lot of bad things, so I reckon he doesn’t have God’s power.”

Acts 13:46Paul and Barnabas were not frightened of them. They said, “God sent us to tell his message to you Jews first. But you didn’t listen to it, and that shows us that you don’t want to live with God for ever. So now we will tell God’s message to people that are not Jews.

Matthew Henry on Jonah 4:1

We read, with a great deal of pleasure, in the close of the foregoing chapter, concerning the repentance of Nineveh; but in this chapter we read, with a great deal of uneasiness, concerning the sin of Jonah; and, as there is joy in heaven and earth for the conversion of sinners, so there is grief for the follies and infirmities of saints. In all the book of God we scarcely find a "servant of the Lord" (and such a one we are sure Jonah was, for the scripture calls him so) so very much out of temper as he is here,… Read the whole commentary →

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