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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Jonah 4:3

take … my life from me So had Moses prayed (Numbers 11:15) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), both with better cause, and in nobler spirit, but both in the same utter weariness of life as Jonah. No one of them, however, attempts to take his own life. They all regard it as a sacred deposit, entrusted to them by God and only to be relinquished at His bidding, or in accordance with His will. Comp. Jonah 4:8 below.

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See also Jonah 4:3 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Jonah 4:3. _TAKE, I BESEECH THEE, MY LIFE FROM ME_] קח נא את נפשי _kach na eth naphshi_, "Take, I beseech thee, even my soul." Do not let me survive this disgrace. Thou hast spared this city. I...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    THEREFORE 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...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 Jonah's Discontent and Correction _ 1. Jonah's discontent (John 4:1) _ 2. The correction (John 4:4) John 4:1. All that had happened displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. Did...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    JONAH 4. JONAH'S INTOLERANCE REBUKED AND GOD'S MERCY VINDICATED. God's clemency to Nineveh made Jonah very angry. It was not, as we might be tempted to suppose, that he felt his professional credit as...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    LIFE. soul Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13....

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _JONAH'S ANGRY PRAYER TO GOD -- JONAH 4:1-3:_ The Lord's compassion toward Nineveh displeased Jonah greatly. He was really upset and angry with God because Nineveh had not been destroyed. A person can...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THEREFORE NOW, O LORD, TAKE, I BESEECH THEE— "I cannot survive the confusion of seeing my predictions vain, and to no effect: I cannot bear to live under the imputation of being a false prophet....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    GOD'S MESSENGER RUNNING AHEAD OF GODTHE DISPLEASURE OF JONAH TEXT: Jonah 4:1-3 1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehov...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. THEREFORE NOW, O LORD, TAKE, I BESEECH THEE, MY LIFE FROM ME; FOR IT IS BETTER FOR ME TO...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JONAH'S JEALOUSY CONTRASTED WITH JEHOVAH'S COMPASSION 1. Jonah's anger has a double cause, wounded pride that his words are proved false, and indignation that the God of Israel should pity heathen, o...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE MAN WHO DISAGREED WITH GOD JONAH _MARK KIRKPATRICK_ CHAPTER 4 V1 Jonah was upset and angry. V2 He complained, ‘Lord, did I not say before I left home that you would do this? I thought that yo...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    TAKE, I BESEECH THEE. — We naturally refer to the history of Elijah for a similar weariness and disgust of life. (Comp. also the case of Moses, Numbers 11:15). It should be noticed, as a contrast of H...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ עַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה קַח ־נָ֥א אֶת ־נַפְשִׁ֖י

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    ISRAEL'S JEALOUSY OF JEHOVAH John 4:1 HAVING illustrated the truth, that the Gentiles are capable of repentance unto life, the Book now describes the effect of their escape upon Jonah, and closes by...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE PROPHET'S NARROWNESS REBUKED John 4:1-11 This chapter marks an era in the development of the outlook of the Hebrew people. Here, upon its repentance, a heathen city was pardoned. Clearly Jehovah...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The final picture of the controversy between Jonah and Jehovah reveals most vividly, through Jonah, the attitude of the ancient people which his story was intended to correct, and Jehovah's care for,...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life (c) from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live. (c) Thus he prayed from grief, fearing that God's name by this forgiveness might be bl...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Is this Jonah, who offered such a lovely prayer but a little before? Can it be, the same man? Alas! Reader! what is Jonah, what is any man, if for a moment left without the influences of grace?...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Lectures on the Minor Prophets. W. Kelly. The most cursory reader can hardly avoid seeing that Jonah has a peculiar place among the prophets. There is none more intensely Jewish; yet his prophecy was...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    Gordo I. INTRODUCTION A. This morning we come to the 4th and final chapter of the book of Jonah. 1. As far a Nineveh is concerned, the book could have ended with chapter 3. a) They repented, the L...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    We here see how angry Jonah was in his zeal: for this prayer cannot certainly be ascribed to his faith, as some think, who say that Jonah took a flight as it were in his soul to heaven, when he made t...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    The God of grace has compassion on the works of His hands, when they humble themselves before Him and tremble at the hearing of His righteous judgments. But Jonah, instead of caring for them, thinks o...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    THEREFORE NOW, O LORD, TAKE, I BESEECH THEE, MY LIFE FROM ME,.... Or, "my soul" x. This, as Drusius remarks, may be observed against those that think the soul is not immortal; for by this it appears t...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live. Ver. 3. _Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me_] A pitiful peevish...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _But it_ The divine forbearance in sparing Nineveh; _displeased Jonah exceedingly_ “Seeing that what he had foretold against the Ninevites did not happen, he was afraid lest he should pass for a false...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JONAH'S DISPLEASURE AND THE LORD'S REPROOF. That Jonah was easily swayed by his emotions is evident from the entire story of his book, but appears particularly from the last Chapter. At the same time...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. "Jonah's impatience of life under disappointed hopes of Israel's reformation through the dest...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-4 What all the saints make matter of joy and praise, Jonah makes the subject of reflection upon God; as if showing mercy were an imperfection of the Divine nature, which is the greatest glory of it...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THEREFORE, Heb. _And now_; now presently, let no time slip. O Lord, who art, as the only Author, so the great Arbiter of life; the mighty and eternal God. His sovereignty was enough to command Jonah's...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Jonah 4:3 LORD H3068 take H3947 (H8798) life H5315 better H2896 die H4194 live H2416 take -...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘And he prayed to YHWH, and said, “I pray you, O YHWH, was not this what I said when I was yet in my own country? Therefore I rushed to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and me...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    YHWH USES AN ILLUSTRATION IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE TO JONAH THE REASONABLENESS OF HIS MERCY (JONAH 4:1). The mercy of YHWH having been revealed in chapter 1 to the mariners, in chapter 2 to Jonah, and...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    JONAH 1-4 Jonah buried and risen a type of Christ. I. More than once in the course of our Lord's ministry, among different persons and for different objects, He makes use of the similitude of the pro...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    You know all about Jonah's refusal to go upon the Lord's errand, and how he was held to it, and carried to his work in a great fish as he would not go by himself. Somehow or other, God will make his s...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Jonah's displeasure over God's action toward Nineveh. The sheltering gourd. CHARACTERS: God, Jonah. CONCLUSION: Though there be these who find it in their hearts to quarrel with the goodnes...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Jonah 4:6. _A gourd._ Plants of this genera exceed all others in the rapidity of their growth. Jonah 4:11. _Six score thousand_ infants. By consequence, the elder children and adults, must have swell...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _It is better for me to die than to live._ IS LIFE WORTH LIVING Jonah’s mission, though in some respects strange and terrible, was one of mercy, to lead the Ninevites to repentance; and Jonah knew th...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JONAH—NOTE ON JONAH 4:1 Jonah’s Angry Prayer. The sixth episode parallels the third (Jonah 1:17) and focuses on Jonah’s self-centeredness and hypocrisy. Both episodes have the same

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JONAH—NOTE ON JONAH 4:3 MY LIFE translates the Hebrew for “my soul,” and TO LIVE translates the Hebrew for “my life.” These two expressions occur in Jonah’s first prayer, where he is grateful that his...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.] ANGRY] Lit. hot with anger; to burn inwardly: the verb usually restricted to anger, but (Jonah 4:4; Jonah 4:9) rendered to grieve. Jonah’s vexation grew to anger. Nineveh’s destructio...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JONAH 4:1 JONAH'S DISPLEASURE AND ITS CORRECTION. JONAH 4:1 1. Jonah is grieved at the sparing of Nineveh, the expectation of which had led to his former flight

  • The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn

    CHAPTER VIII. THE DISPLEASURE OF JONAH AT THE PRESERVATION OF NINEVEH FROM the effect produced on the mind of God by the repentance of Nineveh toward him, we now pass to the effect produced on the min...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and he said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this what I said to you, when I was still in my own country? And this...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 9:15; 1 Kings 19:4; Ecclesiastes 7:1; Jeremiah 20:14;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Than to live — Disgraced and upbraided by hardened sinners, who will brand me for a liar....

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