Jonah 4 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 4:4, 4:9
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 4
Jonah’s anger and divine compassion
Verse 4:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:1 This was a great evil in Jonah's eyes, and he became angry.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:1 Jonah was grieved with great grief and was disturbed.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew rāʿâ and ḥārâ convey displeasure and burning anger; Greek lypē and syncheō depict grief and disturbance. The emotional vocabulary is preserved separately.
Verse 4:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:2 He prayed to YHWH and said, “Please, YHWH, was this not what I said while I was still in my own land? That is why I hastened to flee to Tarshish: I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abundant in steadfast love, and relenting concerning disaster.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, were these not my words while I was still in my own land? That is why I was quick to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are merciful and compassionate, patient, abundant in mercy, and relenting concerning calamities.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both disclose Jonah's reason for flight and the same divine compassion; Greek omits the explicit noun “God” in the list and uses mercy for Hebrew ḥesed. These idioms do not imply different divine beings.
Verse 4:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:3 And now, YHWH, please take my life from me, for my death is better than my life.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:3 And now, Master Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The death wish corresponds. Greek adds the address despotēs, “Master,” to “Lord.”
Verse 4:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:4 YHWH said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:4 The Lord said to Jonah, “Are you deeply grieved?”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew hăhêṭēḇ ḥārâ leḵā is rendered as a question about the rightness of anger; Greek asks about the intensity of grief. This changes the question's force. Hebrew may also permit an intensive reading, “Are you very angry?”; classification is provisional on the adopted sense.
Verse 4:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:5 Jonah went out of the city and sat east of the city. He made himself a shelter there and sat under it in the shade, until he could see what would happen in the city.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:5 Jonah went out of the city and sat opposite the city. He made himself a shelter there and sat beneath it in the shade, until he could see what would happen to the city.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew locates the shelter east of the city; Greek says opposite it. The shelter, shade and waiting agree.
Verse 4:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:6 YHWH God appointed a qiqayon plant and made it rise over Jonah, to provide shade over his head and rescue him from his misery. Jonah rejoiced over the qiqayon with great joy.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:6 The Lord God commanded a gourd, and it grew up above Jonah's head, to provide shade over his head and shelter him from his troubles. Jonah rejoiced over the gourd with great joy.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew qîqāyôn is left as a named but botanically uncertain plant; Greek kolokynthē specifies a gourd. Hebrew rescue and Greek shading preserve their distinct expressions of relief.
Verse 4:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:7 God appointed a worm at the rise of dawn the next day; it struck the qiqayon, and it withered.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:7 God commanded a worm at dawn the next day; it struck the gourd, and it dried up.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The appointed worm, timing and withering correspond; the source-specific qiqayon/gourd names remain distinct.
Verse 4:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun struck Jonah's head, and he grew faint. He asked that his life might end and said, “My death is better than my life.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:8 As the sun rose, God commanded a burning, scorching wind. The sun struck Jonah's head; he lost heart, renounced his life and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew specifies east and uses the difficult ḥărîšîṯ, provisionally “scorching”; Greek specifies scorching heat without a compass direction. Hebrew fainting/request for death becomes Greek loss of heart/renunciation of life.
Verse 4:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:9 God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the qiqayon?” He said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you deeply grieved about the gourd?” He said, “I am deeply grieved, even to death.”
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: As in 4:4, the adopted Hebrew reading concerns justified anger and Greek concerns intense grief; the corresponding answer sustains that difference. The intensive alternative for Hebrew remains possible. Plant terminology follows 4:6.
Verse 4:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:10 YHWH said, “You had pity on the qiqayon, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow, which came to be in a night and perished in a night.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:10 The Lord said, “You spared the gourd, over which you did not suffer toil and which you did not nurture, which came to be in a night and perished in a night.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both expose Jonah's concern for something he did not create. The Hebrew pity/Greek sparing vocabulary overlaps, while the plant distinction remains.
Verse 4:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
4:11 And should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and much livestock?”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
4:11 And shall I not spare Nineveh, the great city, in which dwell more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right from their left, and much livestock?”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both end with the same open question, human number, lack of discernment and livestock. “Right from left” is retained without deciding that the people must all be small children or all morally uninformed adults.