and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, `I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land--therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish--that I have known that Thou <FI>art<Fi> a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?
Jonah 4:1 And it is grievous unto Jonah--a great evil--and he is displeased at it;
Jonah 4:2 and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, `I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land--therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish--that I have known that Thou <FI>art<Fi> a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?
Jonah 4:3 And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better <FI>is<Fi> my death than my life.'
Jonah 4:4 And Jehovah saith, `Is doing good displeasing to thee?'
The verse centers on "prayeth", "jehovah", "saith", "thee", "word", and "mine". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "prayeth" and "jehovah", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And it is grievous unto Jonah--a great..." into verse 3's "And now O Jehovah take I pray...", so "prayeth" and "jehovah" 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 "prayeth" and "jehovah" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.