Jonah 4:10

But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD addresses Jonah directly after Jonah declares he is angry enough to die over the destroyed plant. This exchange occurs at the close of God’s second rhetorical inquiry into Jonah’s justified wrath.

The words — The verb חַסְתָּ (chas.ta) translates literally as “you had compassion” or “you cared,” while קִיקָיוֹן (qiqayyon) names the specific plant that provided shade. These terms anchor the divine response to Jonah’s emotional focus on a temporary, unearned provision.

The thread — The narrative sequence continues directly into Jonah 4:11, where God contrasts Jonah’s pity for the plant with His own concern for Nineveh’s inhabitants and livestock. The supplied cross-references (1 Samuel 20:31; Genesis 17:12) do not align with this verse’s immediate context or lexical themes.

Why it lands — The text demands the reader examine whether their compassion is reserved for self-serving comforts rather than the people God commands them to serve. It requires acknowledging that divine concern extends beyond personal convenience to the welfare of others.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיֹּ֣אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahweh אַתָּ֥ה'a.Tahyou חַ֙סְתָּ֙chas.tayou had compassion עַל־'al-on הַקִּ֣יקָי֔וֹןha./Ki.ka.Yonthe/ plant אֲשֶׁ֛ר'a.Sherwhich לֹא־lo'-not עָמַ֥לְתָּ'a.Mal.tayou had toiledבּ֖וֹb/oin <the>/ itוְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not גִדַּלְתּ֑וֹgi.dal.T/oyou had made grow/ it שֶׁבִּן־she./bin-that/ a son of לַ֥יְלָהLay.laha night הָיָ֖הha.Yahit was וּבִן־u./vin-and/ a son of לַ֥יְלָהLay.laha night אָבָֽד׃'a.Vadit perished

King James Version

Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

Cross-references

1 Samuel 20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”
Genesis 17:12 Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner—even those who are not your offspring.