Jonah 4:4 (WEB)

Passage

Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Nearby Context

Jonah 4:2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah 4:4 Yahweh said, “Is it right for you 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 himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

Jonah 4:6 Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Therefore now Yahweh take I beg you..." into verse 5's "Then Jonah went out of the city...", so "yahweh" and "said" 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 "yahweh" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.