Jonah 4:7 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:5 And 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 Elohim 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 trouble. And 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.

Jonah 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he fainted; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

Jonah 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, unto death.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "prepared", "worm", "morning", "rose", "next", "smote", "gourd", and "withered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "prepared" and "worm", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And Jehovah Elohim prepared a gourd and..." into verse 8's "And it came to pass when the...", so "prepared" and "worm" 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 "prepared" and "worm" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.