Jonah 4:11 (LSB)

Passage

So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”

Jonah 4:10 Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight and perished overnight.

Jonah 4:11 So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "should", "pity", "nineveh", "great", "city", "than", "persons", and "difference". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "should" and "pity", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The prior verse says "Then Yahweh said You had pity on...", giving immediate footing for "should" and "pity". In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

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