Jonah 4:5 (ASV)

Passage

Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Jonah 4:4 And Jehovah said, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah 4:5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.

Jonah 4:6 And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.

Jonah 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jonah", "went", "city", "east", "side", "booth", and "under". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jonah" and "went", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And Jehovah said Doest thou well to..." into verse 6's "And Jehovah God prepared a gourd and...", so "jonah" and "went" belong inside that flow. In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jonah" and "went" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.