The Meaning of Jonah 4:2 Explained

Jonah 4:2

KJV: And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

YLT: and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, 'I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land -- therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish -- that I have known that Thou art a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?

Darby: And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Ah, Jehovah, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I was minded to flee at first unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

ASV: And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And he prayed  unto the LORD,  and said,  I pray  thee, O LORD,  [was] not this my saying,  when I was yet in my country?  Therefore I fled  before  unto Tarshish:  for I knew  that thou [art] a gracious  God,  and merciful,  slow  to anger,  and of great  kindness,  and repentest  thee of the evil. 

What does Jonah 4:2 Mean?

Verse Meaning

To his credit Jonah told God why he was angry (cf. Jonah 2:1; Job). Many believers try to hide their true feelings from God when they think God will not approve of those feelings. Even though the prophet had been rebellious he had a deep and intimate relationship with God.
Contrast this prayer with the one in chapter2. This one is negative and defensive; the former one is positive and praiseful. This one focuses on Jonah , but the former one on God. This one contains no fewer than nine references to "I" or "my" in the Hebrew.
"The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, and that"s where Jonah"s problems were to be found." [1]
Jonah"s motive in fleeing to Tarshish now becomes known. He was afraid that the Ninevites would repent and that God would be merciful to this ancient enemy of God"s people. By opposing the Israelites her enemies were also opposing Yahweh. This is why a godly man such as Jonah hated the Assyrians so much and why the psalmists spoke so strongly against Israel"s enemies.
"Some dismiss biblical references to God "relenting" from judgment as anthropomorphic, arguing that an unchangeable God would never change his mind once he has announced his intentions. But both Jonah 4:2 and Joel 2:13 list God"s capacity to "change his mind" as one of his fundamental attributes, one that derives from his compassion and demonstrates his love." [2]
Jonah"s description of God goes back to Exodus 34:6-7, a very ancient expression of God"s character (cf. Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; Psalm 103:8; Psalm 145:8; Joel 2:13; Nahum 1:3). "Gracious" (from the Heb. hen, grace) expresses God"s attitude toward those who have no claim on Him because they are outside any covenant relationship with Him. [3] Compassion, one of the themes of this story, is a trait that Jonah recognized in God but did not share with Him as he should have. Lovingkindness (Heb. hesed) refers to God"s loyal love to those who are in covenant relationship with Him. The prophet was criticizing God for good qualities that he recognized in God. He wished God were not so good.
"It was not simply the case that Jonah could not bring himself to appreciate Nineveh. Rather, to a shocking extent, he could not stand God!" [4]
"Jonah sees the deferment of judgment on Nineveh as a weakness on God"s part and disapproves strongly of sharing the Lord"s compassion with the unlovely." [5]
Even the best of people, people such as Jonah , wish calamity on the wicked, but God does not (cf. 2 Peter 3:9).

Context Summary

Jonah 4:1-11 - The Prophet's Narrowness Rebuked
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 was the God, not of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also. Jonah, however, had no pleasure in the revelation. He clung to the bitter narrowness of national prejudice fearing that when his own people received tidings of Nineveh's repentance and deliverance, they would be encouraged in their obstinate refusal of God's law.
How often God puts gourds into our lives to refresh us with their exquisite greenery, and to remind us of His thoughtful love! Our fretfulness and petulance are no barriers to His tender mercy. The withering of the gourd extorted bitter reproaches from the prophet who would have beheld the destruction of Nineveh without a tear. He did not realize that to God Nineveh was all, and much more, than the gourd was to him. Notice the extreme beauty of the concluding verse: The permanence of the city contrasted with the frailty of the gourd! The responsibility of God for Nineveh, which He had made to grow! The preciousness to Him, not only of the mature, but of babes and cattle [source]

Chapter Summary: Jonah 4

1  Jonah repining at God's mercy,
4  is reproved by the type of a withering vine

What do the individual words in Jonah 4:2 mean?

So he prayed to Yahweh and said Ah Yahweh was not this what I said when still I was in my country of therefore I fled previously to Tarshish for I know that You [are] God a gracious and merciful slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and one who relents from doing harm
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨ל אֶל־ יְהוָ֜ה וַיֹּאמַ֗ר אָנָּ֤ה יְהוָה֙ הֲלוֹא־ זֶ֣ה דְבָרִ֗י עַד־ הֱיוֹתִי֙ עַל־ ؟ אַדְמָתִ֔י עַל־ כֵּ֥ן קִדַּ֖מְתִּי לִבְרֹ֣חַ תַּרְשִׁ֑ישָׁה כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙ אֵֽל־ חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֔וּם אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־ חֶ֔סֶד וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־ הָרָעָֽה

וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨ל  So  he  prayed 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hitpael, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: פָּלַל 
Sense: to intervene, interpose, pray.
יְהוָ֜ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: Jehovah—used primarily in the combination ‘Lord Jehovah’.
וַיֹּאמַ֗ר  and  said 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
אָנָּ֤ה  Ah 
Parse: Interjection
Root: אָנָּא 
Sense: ah now! I/we beseech you, oh now!, pray now! (participle of entreaty usually followed by the imperative verb).
יְהוָה֙  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: Jehovah—used primarily in the combination ‘Lord Jehovah’.
הֲלוֹא־  was  not 
Parse: Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
זֶ֣ה  this 
Parse: Pronoun, masculine singular
Root: זֶה  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, another, such.
דְבָרִ֗י  what  I  said 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
עַד־  when  still 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
הֱיוֹתִי֙  I  was 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct, first person common singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
؟ אַדְמָתִ֔י  my  country 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: אֲדָמָה 
Sense: ground, land.
לִבְרֹ֣חַ  fled  previously 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: בָּרַח 
Sense: to go through, flee, run away, chase, drive away, put to flight, reach, shoot (extend), hurry away.
תַּרְשִׁ֑ישָׁה  to  Tarshish 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular, third person feminine singular
Root: תַּרְשִׁישׁ 
Sense: son of Javan. 2 a Benjamite, son of Bilhan. 3 one of the wise men close to king Ahasuerus of Persia. 4 a city of the Phoenicians in a distant part of the Mediterranean Sea to which the prophet Jonah was trying to flee.
יָדַ֗עְתִּי  I  know 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: דָּעָה 
Sense: to know.
כִּ֤י  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
אַתָּה֙  You  [are] 
Parse: Pronoun, second person masculine singular
Root: אַתְּ 
Sense: you (second pers.
אֵֽל־  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.
חַנּ֣וּן  a  gracious 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: חַנּוּן  
Sense: gracious.
וְרַח֔וּם  and  merciful 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַחוּם  
Sense: compassionate.
אֶ֤רֶךְ  slow 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: אָרֵךְ 
Sense: long (pinions).
אַפַּ֙יִם֙  to  anger 
Parse: Noun, md
Root: אַף 
Sense: nostril, nose, face.
וְרַב־  and  abundant 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: רַב 
Sense: much, many, great.
חֶ֔סֶד  in  lovingkindness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֶסֶד 
Sense: goodness, kindness, faithfulness.
וְנִחָ֖ם  and  one  who  relents 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Nifal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: נָחַם  
Sense: to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted.
הָרָעָֽה  doing  harm 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.