Jonah 4:11 (DRB)

Passage

And shall I not spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons, that know how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:9 And the Lord said to Jonah: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto death.

Jonah 4:10 And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in one night perished.

Jonah 4:11 And shall I not spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons, that know how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "spare", "ninive", "great", "city", "than", "hundred", and "twenty". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "spare", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The prior verse says "And the Lord said Thou art grieved...", giving immediate footing for "shall" and "spare". In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

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