Jonah 4 10

Jonah 4:10 kjv

Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

Jonah 4:10 nkjv

But the LORD said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.

Jonah 4:10 niv

But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

Jonah 4:10 esv

And the LORD said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

Jonah 4:10 nlt

Then the LORD said, "You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly.

Jonah 4 verses

Jonah 4 10 meaning

God, in this verse, exposes Jonah's self-centeredness and misplaced compassion by highlighting the disproportionate value Jonah placed on a temporary plant he neither cultivated nor caused to grow, compared to his utter lack of pity for the multitude of people in Nineveh. It reveals the heart of the Creator who values His human creation and life itself above all temporary earthly comforts or personal preferences. The rhetorical question emphasizes the brevity of life and the futility of human toil when contrasted with God's ultimate creative and redemptive work.

Jonah 4 10 Context

Jonah chapter 4 reveals the prophet's profound spiritual crisis and misplaced priorities. After Nineveh repents and God relents from destroying the city, Jonah is furious (Jon 4:1). His anger stems from God showing compassion to Israel's enemies, contradicting Jonah's desire for Nineveh's destruction (Jon 4:2-3). In his misery, Jonah builds a shelter, and God miraculously provides a plant (a kikayon or castor oil plant/gourd) to shade him from the sun, giving Jonah great joy (Jon 4:5-6). God then prepares a worm to destroy the plant and sends a scorching east wind, causing Jonah to become faint and again wish for death (Jon 4:7-8). God asks Jonah if he is right to be angry about the plant, to which Jonah vehemently affirms his anger (Jon 4:9). Verse 10 immediately follows, as God delivers the pivotal lesson, contrasting Jonah's superficial pity for a plant with the vast, living human population of Nineveh, thus setting up the ultimate challenge in verse 11 regarding God's greater concern for people. Historically, Assyria (Nineveh being its capital) was a brutal empire, deeply feared by Israel. Jonah's nationalistic fervor would have reflected common sentiment, making God's mercy towards them all the more difficult for him to accept.

Jonah 4 10 Word analysis

• Then the Lord said:

  • The Lord (Hebrew: יְהוָה, YHWH, the Tetragrammaton): This is God's personal covenant name, often rendered as Yahweh. Its use here underscores that this is a direct, authoritative, and deeply personal communication from the sovereign God of Israel, the same God who called Jonah, and the same God who exercised mercy. It signifies not just power but a relational aspect to this divine discourse.
  • said (Hebrew: וַיֹּאמֶר, vayyō'mer): A common verbal introduction, yet here it sets the stage for a critical teaching moment.

• You have been concerned about this plant:

  • You (Hebrew: אַתָּה, 'attah): An emphatic "you," directly addressing Jonah and placing the focus squarely on his emotional state and actions.
  • concerned (Hebrew: חַסְתָּה, chas’tah): From the verb חַס (chas), meaning "to pity, have compassion, show concern, spare." God uses Jonah's own word for his pity towards the plant, holding a mirror up to his actions. It denotes a tender, almost parental, emotional attachment.
  • about this plant (Hebrew: עַל־הַקִּיקָיוֹן, 'al-haqīqayôn): Refers to the miraculous castor oil plant/gourd provided by God. Its specific, likely fast-growing and short-lived nature, is key to God's analogy.

• though you did not tend it or make it grow:

  • tend (Hebrew: עֲמַלְתָּ, 'amal'ta): From the verb עָמַל ('amal), meaning "to labor, toil, work hard, exert oneself." It highlights the physical effort, sweat, and time required for cultivation, which Jonah utterly lacked for this plant.
  • make it grow (Hebrew: גִדַּלְתּוֹ, gid'dal'tô): From the verb גָּדַל (gadal), meaning "to grow, make great, raise." It denotes the act of nurturing and developing something to maturity, an active role in its life cycle, also absent from Jonah's actions regarding the plant.

• It sprang up overnight and perished overnight:

  • overnight (Hebrew: בִּן־לַיְלָה, bin-laylâ): Literally, "in the space of a night." This phrase is used twice, emphasizing the extremely rapid, fleeting nature of the plant's existence. This temporal contrast is critical to God's argument. It highlights a purely divine act without any human intervention.
  • perished (Hebrew: אָבָד, 'abād): From the verb אָבַד ('abād), meaning "to be lost, vanish, perish, destroy." It emphasizes the plant's complete and rapid demise.

• Words-group by words-group analysis:

  • "Then the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this plant": This sets up the direct confrontation. God uses Jonah's own expressed emotion (concerned / pity) against him. Jonah’s specific distress for the plant in v.9 makes God's question profoundly personal and rhetorical. It exposes Jonah's self-focused empathy, directed at a temporary source of comfort rather than people.
  • "though you did not tend it or make it grow": This phrase establishes Jonah's total lack of investment or personal effort in the plant's existence. He did not plant it, water it, or cultivate it. His concern, therefore, is for something that cost him nothing to bring into being, reinforcing its superficiality compared to the profound investment required to nurture human life or a city. It subtly draws a contrast with God's active creation and sustained care for Nineveh.
  • "It sprang up overnight and perished overnight": This double emphasis on "overnight" underscores the plant's fleeting nature and rapid, divinely-controlled life cycle. It serves as a stark object lesson: how much more concern should there be for countless human lives (implied, anticipating v.11) who, despite their own brief existence, possess moral agency, divine image, and eternal consequence, and who God himself has actively created and desires to nurture.

Jonah 4 10 Bonus section

The Hebrew word for "plant," קִיקָיוֹן (qīqayôn), has been the subject of some debate regarding its precise botanical identification, with castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), bottle gourd, or a form of ivy being common suggestions. However, the exact species is less important than its divinely orchestrated characteristics: rapid growth for quick relief, and rapid death for quick despair. This object lesson relies on its transient nature.

This entire episode is an exercise in divine pedagogy, where God teaches Jonah, not through direct command alone, but through experience and rhetorical questioning, forcing the prophet to confront his own inconsistent logic and self-centered emotions. God's method reflects a deeply relational approach to instructing His servants. The irony is poignant: Jonah, commissioned to proclaim God's universal compassion, struggled deeply to embrace it himself when it extended beyond his nationalistic boundaries and personal comfort. This highlights that understanding God's nature often requires internal transformation alongside external obedience.

Jonah 4 10 Commentary

Jonah 4:10 is a pivotal verse, acting as God's profound, yet gentle, rebuke and instruction to Jonah, setting the stage for the book's ultimate question in verse 11. God, addressing Jonah's anger and misplaced grief, systematically dismantles the prophet's distorted worldview. The core of God's argument rests on the striking contrast between the temporary nature of the plant and Jonah's total lack of personal investment in it, versus the imminent lesson about human lives.

By stating "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow," God underscores that Jonah's pity for the plant was entirely disproportionate to any effort or relationship he had with it. The plant was a fleeting comfort, providentially given and removed. Jonah invested nothing, yet he valued its brief existence and mourned its passing fiercely because it affected his personal comfort. This contrasts sharply with God's deep and eternal investment in all of humanity, as Creator and Sustainer.

The repetition "It sprang up overnight and perished overnight" serves to emphasize the plant's ephemeral nature, a stark foil to the enduring value of human souls. God created this fragile plant and took it away, just as He created and preserved the lives of 120,000 people and many animals in Nineveh. The logical leap for Jonah, left unspoken in verse 10 but powerfully evident in verse 11, is: if you can feel such profound pity for a temporary object you had no part in creating, how much more should God, the Creator of all, have pity on an entire city filled with living beings made in His image? This verse thus teaches about divine priorities: life, especially human life, takes precedence over personal comfort, nationalistic pride, or temporary created things. It challenges any human-centric view that limits God's compassion or justifies indifference to others based on their 'outsider' status.Example: A person obsessed with a valuable collectible (e.g., an expensive car or an antique) but unconcerned about the plight of people in their community embodies a similar misplaced compassion, valuing inanimate objects or personal desires over living, breathing humans whom God deeply cares for.