Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Jonah 4:7

But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah's head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: "I'm better off dead!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Gourd;   Miracles;   Presumption;   Worm;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Worm;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gourd;   Worm;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gourd;   Insects;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jonah;   Jonas;   Worm;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gourd,;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gourd;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Worm;  

Encyclopedias:

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

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
Hebrew Names Version
But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
King James Version (1611)
But God prepared a worme when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
King James Version
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
English Standard Version
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
New American Standard Bible
But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered.
New Century Version
But the next day when the sun rose, God sent a worm to attack the plant so that it died.
Amplified Bible
But God prepared a worm when morning dawned the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But God prepared a worme when the morning rose the next day, & it smote the gourd, that it withered.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.
Legacy Standard Bible
But God appointed a worm at the breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and it dried up.
Berean Standard Bible
When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
Contemporary English Version
but early the next morning the Lord sent a worm to chew on the vine, and the vine dried up.
Complete Jewish Bible
But at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which attacked the castor-bean plant, so that it dried up.
Darby Translation
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
Easy-to-Read Version
The next morning, God sent a worm to eat part of the plant. The worm began eating the plant, and the plant died.
George Lamsa Translation
But the next day at dawn, God commanded a worm, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.
Good News Translation
But at dawn the next day, at God's command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died.
Lexham English Bible
So God appointed a worm at daybreak the next day, and it attacked the plant, and it withered.
Literal Translation
But God appointed a worm at the rising of the dawn of the next day, and it struck the plant, and it withered.
American Standard Version
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
Bible in Basic English
But early on the morning after, God made ready a worm for the destruction of the vine, and it became dry and dead.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But God prepared a worme, when the morning rose the next day, which smote the gourde, that it withered.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And God commanded a worm the next morning, and it smote the gourd, and it withered away.
English Revised Version
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
World English Bible
But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And God made redi a worm, in stiyng up of grei dai on the morewe; and it smoot the yuy, and it driede up.
Update Bible Version
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
Webster's Bible Translation
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
New English Translation
So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up.
New King James Version
But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
New Living Translation
But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away.
New Life Bible
But at the beginning of the next day, God sent a worm to destroy the plant and it dried up.
New Revised Standard
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But God appointed a worm, at the uprisings of the dawn, the next day, - and it smote the gourd, that it withered.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
Revised Standard Version
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm which attacked the plant, so that it withered.
Young's Literal Translation
And God appointeth a worm at the going up of the dawn on the morrow, and it smiteth the gourd, and it drieth up.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But vpo the nexte morow agaynst the springe of the daye, the LORDE ordened a worme, which smote the wylde vyne, so that it wethered awaye.

Contextual Overview

5 But Jonah just left. He went out of the city to the east and sat down in a sulk. He put together a makeshift shelter of leafy branches and sat there in the shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 God arranged for a broad-leafed tree to spring up. It grew over Jonah to cool him off and get him out of his angry sulk. Jonah was pleased and enjoyed the shade. Life was looking up. 7But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah's head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: "I'm better off dead!" 9 Then God said to Jonah, "What right do you have to get angry about this shade tree?" Jonah said, "Plenty of right. It's made me angry enough to die!" 10 God said, "What's this? How is it that you can change your feelings from pleasure to anger overnight about a mere shade tree that you did nothing to get? You neither planted nor watered it. It grew up one night and died the next night. So, why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people who don't yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

prepared: Job 1:21, Psalms 30:6, Psalms 30:7, Psalms 102:10

it withered: Psalms 90:5, Psalms 90:6, Isaiah 40:6-8, Joel 1:12

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:39 - for the worms Hosea 5:12 - rottenness Jonah 4:8 - that God James 1:11 - risen

Cross-References

Genesis 3:16
He told the Woman: "I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."
Genesis 4:6
God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."
Genesis 4:8
Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.
Genesis 4:9
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
Genesis 4:10
God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."
Genesis 4:13
Cain said to God , "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."
Genesis 19:21
"All right, Lot. If you insist. I'll let you have your way. And I won't stamp out the town you've spotted. But hurry up. Run for it! I can't do anything until you get there." That's why the town was called Zoar, that is, Smalltown.
Numbers 32:23
"But if you don't do what you say, you will be sinning against God ; you can be sure that your sin will track you down. So, go ahead. Build towns for your families and corrals for your livestock. Do what you said you'd do."
2 Kings 8:28
He joined Joram son of Ahab king of Israel in a war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The archers wounded Joram. Joram pulled back to Jezreel to convalesce from the injuries he had received in the fight with Hazael. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah paid a visit to Joram son of Ahab on his sickbed in Jezreel.
Proverbs 18:5
It's not right to go easy on the guilty, or come down hard on the innocent.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day,.... That God that prepared this plant to rise so suddenly, almost as soon prepared a worm to destroy it; for it rose up one night, continued one whole day, to the great delight of Jonah; and by the morning of the following day this worm or grub was prepared in, it, or sent to it, to the root of it: this shows that God is the Creator of the least as well as the largest of creatures, of worms as well as whales, contrary to the notion of Valentinus, Marcion, and Apelles; who, as Jerom s says, introduce another creator of ants, worms, fleas, locusts, c. and another of the heavens, earth, sea, and angels: but it is much that. Arnobius t, an orthodox ancient Christian father, should deny such creatures to be the work of God, and profess his ignorance of the Maker of them. His words are,

"should we deny flies, beetles, worms, mice, weasels, and moths, to be the work of the King Omnipotent, it does not follow that it should be required of us to say who made and formed them for we may without blame be ignorant who gave them their original;''

whereas, in the miracle of the lice, the magicians of Egypt themselves owned that the finger of God was there, and were out of their power to effect; and to the Prophet Amos the great God was represented in a vision as making locusts or grasshoppers, Amos 7:1; and indeed the smallest insect or reptile is a display of the wisdom and power of God, and not at all below his dignity and greatness to produce; and for which there are wise reasons in nature and providence, as here for the production of this worm: the same God that prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and a gourd to shadow him, and an east wind to blow upon him, prepared this worm to destroy his shade, and try his patience:

and it smote the gourd, that it withered; it bit its root, and its moisture dried up, and it withered away at once, and became useless: that same hand that gives mercies can take them away, and that very suddenly, in a trice, in a few hours, as in the case of Job; and sometimes very secretly and invisibly, that men are not aware of; their substance wastes, and they fall to decay, and they can scarcely tell the reason of it; there is a worm at the root of their enjoyments, which kills them; God is as a moth and rottenness unto them; and he does this sometimes by small means, by little instruments, as he plagued Pharaoh and the Egyptians with lice and flies.

s Prooem. in Philemon. ad Paulam & Eustochium. t Adv. Gentes, l. 2. p. 95.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When the morning rose - , i. e., in the earliest dawn, before the actual sunrise. For one day Jonah enjoyed the refreshment of the palm-christ. In early dawn, it still promised the shadow; just ere it was most needed, at God’s command, it withered.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jonah 4:7. But God prepared a worm — By being eaten through the root, the plant, losing its nourishment, would soon wither; and this was the case in the present instance.


 
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