Jonah 4:2

he prayed His better mind had not altogether forsaken him. He did not as before flee from the presence of the Lord, but betook himself to Him, even in his irritation and discontent.

I pray thee A particle of entreaty. In Jonah 1:14 it is translated "we beseech thee."

I fled before Lit. I prevented or anticipated to flee. That is, I fled before something could happen. LXX. προέφθασα το ῦ φυγε ῖ ν. The ellipsis has been variously supplied. " -I anticipated or prevented (another charge) by escaping"; that is -I fled before" another charge could reach me." Kalisch. "I anticipated (the danger which threatens me) by fleeing to Tarshish." Gesenius. "I hastened my flight." Rosenmüller; or, "hasted to flee," R.V.

for I knew, &c. In common with all Israelites Jonah knew the character of God to be what he here describes it, from His ancient revelation to Moses (Exodus 34:6), repeated frequently by prophets and psalmists (Numbers 14:18; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 145:8), and renewed in exactly the same terms as here by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:13). Knowing that God threatens that He may spare, and warns that He may save, Jonah rightly understood from the first that his mission to Nineveh was a mission of mercy, and therefore he was unwilling to undertake it.