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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Jonah 4:3

And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Despondency;   Presumption;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Israel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jonah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jonas;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Death;   Intercession;   Jonah, the Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Hebrew Names Version
Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."
King James Version (1611)
Therefore now, O Lord, Take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die then to liue.
King James Version
Therefore now, O Lord , take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
English Standard Version
Therefore now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
New American Standard Bible
"So now, LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."
New Century Version
So now I ask you, Lord , please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live."
Amplified Bible
"Therefore now, O LORD, just take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore nowe O Lorde, take, I beseech thee, my life from me: for it is better for me to die then to liue.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."
Legacy Standard Bible
So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."
Contemporary English Version
Now let me die! I'd be better off dead.
Complete Jewish Bible
Therefore, Adonai , please, just take my life away from me; it's better for me to be dead than alive!"
Darby Translation
And now, Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
Easy-to-Read Version
So now, Lord , just kill me. It is better for me to die than to live."
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore now, O my LORD, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Good News Translation
Now then, Lord , let me die. I am better off dead than alive."
Lexham English Bible
And so then, Yahweh, please take my life from me, because for me death is better than life!"
Literal Translation
And now, O Jehovah, please take my life from me. For better is my death than my life.
American Standard Version
Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Bible in Basic English
So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.'
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And nowe O Lorde, take I beseche thee my lyfe from me: for it is better for me to dye, then to lyue.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And now, Lord God, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
English Revised Version
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
World English Bible
Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And now, Lord, Y preie, take my soule fro me; for deth is betere to me than lijf.
Update Bible Version
Therefore now, O Yahweh, take, I urge you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.
New English Translation
So now, Lord , kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!"
New King James Version
Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!"
New Living Translation
Just kill me now, Lord ! I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen."
New Life Bible
So now, O Lord, take my life from me. For death is better to me than life."
New Revised Standard
And now, O Lord , please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, therefore, O Yahweh, take, I pray thee, my life from me, - for it were better for me, to die, than, to live.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live.
Revised Standard Version
Therefore now, O LORD, take my life from me, I beseech thee, for it is better for me to die than to live."
Young's Literal Translation
And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray Thee, my soul from me, for better [is] my death than my life.'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And now o LORDE, take my life fro me (I beseke the) for I had rather dye then lyue.
THE MESSAGE
"So, God , if you won't kill them, kill me! I'm better off dead!"

Contextual Overview

1Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and became angry. 2So he prayed to the LORD, saying, "O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion-One who relents from sending disaster. 3And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."4But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

take: Numbers 11:15, Numbers 20:3, 1 Kings 19:4, Job 3:20, Job 3:21, Job 6:8, Job 6:9, Jeremiah 20:14-18, Philippians 1:21-25

for: Jonah 4:8, Job 7:15, Job 7:16, Ecclesiastes 7:1, 1 Corinthians 9:15

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:46 - I am Exodus 14:12 - For it had Numbers 14:2 - Would Job 10:1 - My soul Ecclesiastes 2:17 - I hated Isaiah 15:4 - his Jeremiah 8:3 - death Galatians 2:11 - because

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man," she said.
Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
Numbers 18:12
I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.
1 Kings 17:7
Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
Nehemiah 13:6
While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me,.... Or, "my soul" x. This, as Drusius remarks, may be observed against those that think the soul is not immortal; for by this it appears that it my be taken from the body, and that it exists separate from it, and does not die with it; and since the body dies upon its removal, for "the body without the spirit is dead", as James says; death is expressed by this phrase, Job 27:8; here Jonah allows that God is the God of life, the author and giver of it, and is the sole disposer of it; it is in his own power to take it away, and not man's: so far Jonah was right, that he did not in his passion attempt to take away his own life; only desires the Lord to do it, though in that he is not to be justified; for though it may be lawful for good men to desire to die, with submission to the will of God; that they might be free from sin, and serve him without it, and be with Christ, and in the enjoyment of the divine Presence, as the Apostle Paul and others did, 2 Corinthians 5:6; but not through discontent, as Elijah, 1 Kings 19:4; or merely to be rid of troubles, and to be free from pain and afflictions, as Job, Job 6:1; and much less in a pet and passion, as Jonah here, giving this reason for it,

for [it is] better for me to die than to live; not being able to bear the reproach of being a false prophet, which he imagined would be cast upon him; or, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, that he might not see the evil come upon Israel, which he feared the repentance of the Ninevites would be the occasion of, Jonah was in a very poor frame of spirit to die in; this would not have been dying in faith and hope in God; which graces cannot be thought to be in lively exercise in him when he was quarrelling with God; neither in love to God, with whom he was angry; nor in love to men, at whose repentance, and finding mercy with the Lord, he was displeased.

x את נפשי "animam meam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellins, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech Thee my life from me - He had rather die, than see the evil which was to come upon his country. Impatient though he was, he still cast himself upon God. By asking of God to end his life, he, at least, committed himself to the sovereign disposal of God . “Seeing that the Gentiles are, in a manner, entering in, and that those words are being fulfilled, Deuteronomy 32:21. “They have moved Me to jealousy with” that which is “not God, and I will move them to jealousy with” those which are “not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,” he despairs of the salvation of Israel, and is convulsed with great sorrow, which bursts out into words and sets forth the causes of grief, saying in a manner, ‘Am I alone chosen out of so many prophets, to announce destruction to my people through the salvation of others?’ He grieved not, as some think, that the multitude of nations is saved, but that Israel perishes. Whence our Lord also wept over Jerusalem. The Apostles first preached to Israel. Paul wishes to become an anathema for his Romans 9:3-5. brethren who are Israelites, whose is the adoption and the glory and the covenant, and the giving of the law and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” Jonah had discharged his office faithfully now. He had done what God commanded; God had done by him what He willed. Now, then, he prayed to be discharged. So Augustine in his last illness prayed that he might die, before the Vandals brought suffering and devastation on his country .

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jonah 4:3. Take, I beseech thee, my life from me — קח נא את נפשי kach na eth naphshi, "Take, I beseech thee, even my soul." Do not let me survive this disgrace. Thou hast spared this city. I thought thou wouldst do so, because thou art merciful and gracious, and it was on this account that I refused to go at first, as I knew that thou mightest change thy purpose, though thou hadst commanded me to make an absolute denunciation of judgment. God has left this example on record to show that an inconsiderate man is not fit to be employed in his work; and he chose this one example that it might serve as an endless warning to his Church to employ no man in the work of the ministry that is not scripturally acquainted with God's justice and mercy.


 
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