Bible Strands
Jonah 4:5
Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrative places Jonah outside Nineveh immediately after God questions his anger, positioning him east of the city to observe its fate.
The words — וַיֵּצֵא (va-yēṣē') and וַיֵּשֶׁב (va-yēšeḇ) are consecutive verbs meaning “and he went out” and “and he sat,” marking his deliberate withdrawal from the urban center.
The thread — This posture of waiting outside a city to witness divine action parallels Elijah standing at the mouth of a cave to hear the Lord (1 Kings 19:13) and Abraham returning to the place where he had stood before God (Genesis 19:27).
Why it lands — The text records Jonah’s physical separation and passive observation, demanding the reader examine whether his location reflects obedience, protest, or a desire to control the outcome of God’s mercy.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 19:9 There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- Genesis 19:27 Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
- 1 Kings 19:13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- Isaiah 57:17 I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
- Jeremiah 17:15 Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
- Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- Jonah 1:5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
- Luke 19:41 As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it