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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Jonah 4:1

IV.
JONAH’S DISCONTENT AND CORRECTION.

(1) But it displeased Jonah. — The Hebrew (it was evil to) is stronger. The prophet was vexed and irritated.

He was very angry. — Literally, it (anger) burnt to him. David’s feeling at the death of Uzziah (2 Samuel 6:8; 1 Chronicles 13:11) is described in the same terms. Selfish jealousy for his own reputation, jealousy for the honour of the prophetic office, a mistaken patriotism disappointed that the great enemy of his country should go unpunished, Jewish exclusiveness which could not endure to see the Divine clemency extended to the heathen, have each been adduced as the motive of Jonah’s anger. Possibly something of all these blended in his mind.

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See also Jonah 4:1 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER IV _Jonah, dreading to be thought a false prophet, repines at God's_ _mercy in sparing the Ninevites, whose destruction he seems to_ _have expected, from his retiring to a place without the...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    AND JONAH WAS DISPLEASED EXCEEDINGLY - It was an untempered zeal. The prophet himself records it as such, and how he was reproved for it. He would, like many of us, govern God’s world better than God...

  • 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

    DISPLEASED. vexed. Not the waywardness of. child, but the displeasure of. man of God, for great and sufficient _reason_ to him. Now that Nineveh was spared, it might after all be used as God's rod for...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _it displeased Jonah, &c._ Lit. IT WAS EVIL TO JONAH, A GREAT EVIL, AND IT (viz. anger) KINDLED TO HIM. Comp. Nehemiah 2:10. It is clear that the immediate cause of Jonah's anger and vexation was the...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Jonah 4:1-11. Jonah's Displeasure, and its Rebuke Greatly displeased at the clemency of God towards Nineveh, Jonah confesses that it was the expectation that that clemency would be exercised, which r...

  • 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

    BUT IT DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY— Seeing that what he had foretold against the Ninevites did not happen, Jonah was afraid, lest he should pass for a false prophet and a deceiver, his ministry be de...

  • 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

    But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. BUT IT DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY, AND HE WAS VERY ANGRY - literally, hot, probably with grief or vexation rather than anger (Fairbairn...

  • 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...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יֵּ֥רַע אֶל ־יֹונָ֖ה רָעָ֣ה גְדֹולָ֑ה וַ

  • 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

    But it displeased (a) Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. (a) Because by this he would be taken as a false prophet, and so the name of God, which he preached, would be blasphemed....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Troubled. His concern was lest he should pass for a false prophet; or rather lest God's word, by this occasion might come to be slighted and disbelieved. (Challoner) --- He conjectured that God would...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS We have here a sad view of the mind of Jonah; the Lord's grace to Nineveh excites the Prophet's displeasure. he is reproved by the Lord under the figure of a gourd. Jonah 4:1 We have not a...

  • 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

    Jerome commends this grief of Jonah, and compares it to the holy zeal of Paul when he wished himself to be an anathema for his brethren, (Romans 9:3 :) for he denies that he grieved because God had sh...

  • 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

    BUT IT DISPLEASED JONAH EXCEEDINGLY, AND HE WAS VERY ANGRY. Jonah was "mirabilis homo", as one calls him, an "amazing man"; the strangest, oddest, and most out of the way man, for a good man and a pro...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. Ver. 1. _But it displeased Jonah exceedingly_] _Mirabilis homo profecto fuit Ionas,_ saith Winckelman here, as strange a man was Jonah of a...

  • 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

    But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, namely, that the Lord did not carry out His threat of punishment upon the people of Nineveh, AND HE WAS VERY ANGRY, provoked, filled with grief and vexation....

  • 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

    JONAH CHAPTER 4 Jonah, repining at God's mercy, JONAH 4:1, is reproved by the type of a gourd, JONAH 4:4. BUT, Heb. _And, it_, the Divine forbearance sparing the great and sinful Nineveh, DISPLEASED J...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Jonah 4:1 displeased H3415 (H8799) Jonah H3124 exceedingly H1419 H7451 angry H2734 (H8799)...

  • 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...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘But it displeased Jonah greatly, and he was angry.' Jonah was not at all pleased that God had had mercy on the Ninevites, indeed he was more than displeased he was very angry. The greatness of his a...

  • 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...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Jonah 4:1. _But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry._ A nice prophet this! Jonah was a man of a somewhat ugly disposition, yet I think he has been misunderstood. He was the true ch...

  • 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

    _But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry._ THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN CHARITY Why is Jonah so much offended and so very angry? Surely there is here some great dishonour to God; or some...

  • 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 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

    Acts 13:46; James 4:5; James 4:6; Jonah 4:9; Luke 15:28;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    It — The divine forbearance sparing Nineveh....

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