Jonah 4:4 (KJV)

Passage

Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

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

Jonah 4:4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah 4:5 So 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 shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

Jonah 4:6 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.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "lord", "doest", "thou", "well", and "angry". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "lord", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Therefore now O LORD take I beseech..." into verse 5's "So Jonah went out of the city...", so "said" and "lord" 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 "said" and "lord" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.