And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| sun | הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ ha.She.mesh | H8121 | the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| arise | כִּזְרֹ֣חַ kiz.Ro.ach | H2224 | properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct |
| God | אֱלֹהִ֜ים 'E.lo.Him | H430 | gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute |
| prepared | וַיְמַ֨ן vay.Man | H4487 | properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| vehement | חֲרִישִׁ֔ית cha.ri.Shit | H2759 | quiet · adjective, feminine singular absolute |
| east | קָדִים֙ ka.Dim | H6921 | the fore or front part · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| wind | ר֤וּחַ Ru.ach | H7307 | wind · noun, common feminine singular construct |
| sun | הַשֶּׁ֛מֶשׁ ha.She.mesh | H8121 | the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| beat | וַתַּ֥ךְ va.Takh | H5221 | to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular |
| head | רֹ֥אשׁ rosh | H7218 | the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct |
| Jonah | יוֹנָ֖ה yo.Nah | H3124 | Jonah · proper noun, a man's name |
| fainted | וַיִּתְעַלָּ֑ף vai.yit.'a.Laf | H5968 | to veil or cover · conjunction + verb, hithpael sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| wished | וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל vai.yish.'Al | H7592 | to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| himself | נַפְשׁוֹ֙ naf.Sho | H5315 | properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| die | לָמ֔וּת la.Mut | H4191 | to die (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct |
| said | וַיֹּ֕אמֶר vai.Yo.mer | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| better | ט֥וֹב Tov | H2896 | good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute |
| die | מוֹתִ֖י mo.Ti | H4194 | death (natural or violent) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix |
| live | מֵחַיָּֽי me.chai.Yai | H2416 | alive · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
vehement--rather, "scorching"; the Margin, "silent," expressing sultry stillness, not vehemence.
A vehement east wind - Which was of itself of a parching, withering nature; and the sun, in addition, made it intolerable. These winds are both scorching and suffocating in the East, for deserts of burning sand lay to the east or south-east; and the easterly winds often brought such a multitude of minute particles of sand on their wings, as to add greatly to the mischief. I believe these, and the sands they carry, are the cause of the ophthalmia which prevails so much both in Egypt and India.
And it came to pass when the sun did arise,.... After that the gourd was smitten and withered; when it was not only risen, but shone out with great force and heat: that God prepared a vehement east wind; or, "a deafening east wind" (u); which blew so strong, and so loud, as R. Marinus in Aben Ezra and Kimchi say, made people deaf that heard it: or, "a silencing east wind"; which when it blew, all other winds were silent, as Jarchi: or it made men silent, not being to be heard for it: or, "a silent" (w), that is, a still quiet wind, as the Targum; which blew so gently and slowly, that it increased the heat, instead of lessening it: or rather "a ploughing east wind" (x); such as are frequent…
Read the whole note in the consoleJonah 4:6-8 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 6. Et paravit Jehova Deus cucurbitam (vel, hederam,) et ascendere fecit ad Jonam, ut esset umbra super caput ejus, atque liberaret eum a molestia sua; et gavisus est Jonas super hedera (vel, cucurbita) gaudio magno. 7. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 7. Et paravit Deus vermem quum ascenderet aurora postridie, qui percussit hederam et exaruit. 8. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east…
When he admitted to feeling this way to the extent of preferring death to life on this account, God said, I call you as judge. Consider, then, if it is right for you to grieve over the pumpkin vine, which you did not cultivate, neither planting it nor watering it. It came into being at dawn, and a worm and the sun proved its ruin at day's end. For my part, on the contrary, is it right for me to treat without mercy this city, which was brought into being by me, containing more than 120,000 inhabitants who do not know their right hand from their left, and many cattle? Give thought to this, then, and marvel at the lovingkindness for its reasonableness.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
On the rising of the dawn of the very next day, God appointed a worm, which punctured the miraculous tree so that it withered away; and when the sun arose He also appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun smote upon Jonah's head, so that he fainted away. Chărı̄shıth, from chârash, to be silent or quiet, is to be taken when used of the wind in the sense of sultry, as in the Chaldee (lxx συγκαίων). The meaning ventus, qualis flat tempore arandi, derived from chârish, the ploughing (Abulw.), or autumnal east wind (Hitzig), is far less suitable. When Jonah fainted away in consequence of the sun-stroke (for hith‛allēph, see at Amo 8:13), he wished himself dead, since death was better for him…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe Lord is God’s covenant name in relation to Israel (see, e.g., Ps 72:18). God did these things to show his covenant love toward Jonah and to those in Israel who had the same attitude. • arranged for: see study note on Jon 1:17.
stilling Heb. חֲרִישִׁית. Our Sages say: When it blows, it silences all the winds because of it, and it is very hot. So does Jonathan render: silencing. [from Gittin 31b] and he fainted Heb. וַיִּתְעַלָּף, pasmer (pamer), in O.F.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
