But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.
Parallel translations
- KJV But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
- BSB When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
- NKJV But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
- NASB But God designated a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered.
- NLT 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God appoints a worm that destroys the vine. It matters because God removes the comfort to teach Jonah about the value of human souls.
Overview
Just as God prepared the vine, He prepares the worm, controlling both blessing and its removal. The withering plant becomes the means of a pointed lesson rather than mere misfortune. God orchestrates Jonah's circumstances to confront his self-centered grief and reorder his concern.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Joel 1:12The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
- Ps 90:5–6You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.
- Job 1:21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
- Ps 30:6–7As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
- Ps 102:10Because of your indignation and your wrath, for you have taken me up, and thrown me away.
- Isa 40:6–8The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Three days in the belly of the fish is the sign Jesus gave of his own death and resurrection (Matt 12:40); and God's mercy on pagan Nineveh foreshadows the gospel going to the nations.
How Jonah 4:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.