PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible — Jonah
Gill, John, 1697-1771 · 21,825 words · 42 reading sections
Jonah 1:1
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Jonah 1:1 INTRODUCTION TO JONAH This book, in the Hebrew copies, is called "Sepher Jonah", the Book of Jonah; by the Vulgate Latin version "the Prophecy of Jonah": and in the Syriac version "the Prophecy of the Prophet Jonah". His name signifies a dove, derived from a root…
1,368 wordsSECTION 2Jonah 1:2
Jonah 1:2 Ver. 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,.... That is, arise from the place where he was, and leave the business he was about, and prepare for a long journey to the place mentioned, and be as expeditious in it as possible. Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian empire at this time; it was an ancient…
476 wordsSECTION 3Jonah 1:3
Jonah 1:3 Ver. 3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,.... He was not obedient to the heavenly vision; he rose up, but not to go to Nineveh, but to Tarshish, the reverse of it; to the sea, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west, as Nineveh was to the east. Tarshish somet…
1,239 wordsSECTION 4Jonah 1:4
Jonah 1:4 Ver. 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,.... He took a wind out of his treasures, and hurled it, as the word {w} signifies, into the sea: "into that sea" {x}; that part of it where the ship was Jonah was in. Winds are at the command of God, which he raises at his pleasure, and fulfil his will…
359 wordsSECTION 5Jonah 1:5
Jonah 1:5 Ver. 5. Then the mariners were afraid,.... Perceiving that the storm was not an ordinary, but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger, and no probability of being saved. This shows that the storm must be very violent, to frighten such men who were used to the sea, and to st…
503 wordsSECTION 6Jonah 1:6
Jonah 1:6 Ver. 6. So the shipmaster came to him,.... The master of the vessel, who had the command of it; or the governor of it, as Jarchi; though Josephus {d} distinguishes between the governor and the shipmaster: "the master of the ropers" {e}, as it may be rendered; of the sailors, whose business it was to draw the…
631 wordsSECTION 7Jonah 1:7
Jonah 1:7 Ver. 7. And they said everyone to his fellow,.... That Jonah awoke and rose up, upon the shipmaster's calling to him, is certain; but whether or no he called upon his God is not; perhaps he did: and when his prayer was over, and the storm still continuing, the sailors said one to another, come, and let us c…
382 wordsSECTION 8Jonah 1:8
Jonah 1:8 Ver. 8. Then they said unto him, tell us, we pray thee,.... They did not fall upon him at once in an outrageous manner, and throw him overboard; as it might be thought such men would have done, considering what they had suffered and lost by means of him; but they use him with great respect, tenderness, and l…
335 wordsSECTION 9Jonah 1:9
Jonah 1:9 Ver. 9. And he said unto them, I [am] an Hebrew,.... He does not say a Jew, as the Targum wrongly renders it; for that would have been false, since he was of the tribe of Zebulun, which was in the kingdom of Israel, and not of Judah; nor does he say an Israelite, lest he should be thought to be in the idolat…
294 wordsSECTION 10Jonah 1:10
Jonah 1:10 Ver. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid,.... When they found he was a Hebrew, and that it was the God of the Hebrews that was angry; of whom they had heard much, and what great and wonderful things had been done by him, and now had an experience of his power and providence, and that it was for fleeing…
293 wordsSECTION 11Jonah 1:11
Jonah 1:11 Ver. 11. Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee,.... Though, both by the lot and his own confession, they knew he was the guilty person; for whose sake this storm was; yet were unwilling to do anything to him without his will and consent, his counsel and advice; perceiving that he was a prophet…
2,739 wordsSECTION 12Jonah 2:1
Jonah 2:1 INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 2 This chapter contains the prayer of Jonah, when in the fish's belly; the time when he prayed, the person he prayed unto, and the place where, are suggested in Jon 2:1; and the latter described as a place of great straitness and distress, and even as hell itself, Jon 2:2; The conditio…
721 wordsSECTION 13Jonah 2:2
Jonah 2:2 Ver. 2. And said,.... Not unto the Lord in prayer, but to others, to whom he communicated what passed between God and him in this time of distress; how he prayed to him, and was heard by him; what a condition he had been in, and how he was delivered out of it; what was his frame of mind while in it, sometime…
453 wordsSECTION 14Jonah 2:3
Jonah 2:3 Ver. 3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas,.... Though the mariners did this, yet Jonah ascribes it to the Lord; he knew it was he, whom he had sinned against and offended; that he was he that sent the storm after him into the sea; that determined the lot to fall upon him; that it…
349 wordsSECTION 15Jonah 2:4
Jonah 2:4 Ver. 4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight,.... Or, "from before thine eyes" {d}; the Targum, from before thy Word; as David also said in his distress, Ps 31:22; not but that he knew he was in the reach and under the eye of his omniscience, which saw him in the fish's belly, in the depths of the sea, fo…
331 wordsSECTION 16Jonah 2:5
Jonah 2:5 Ver. 5. The waters compassed me about, [even] to the soul,.... Either when he was first cast into the sea, which almost suffocated him, and just ready to take away his life, could not breathe for them, as is the case of a man drowning; or these were the waters the fish drew into its belly, in such large quan…
440 wordsSECTION 17Jonah 2:6
Jonah 2:6 Ver. 6. I went down to the bottom of the mountains,.... Which are in the midst of the sea, whither the fish carried him, and where the waters are deep; or the bottom of rocks and promontories on the shore of the sea; and such vast rocks hanging over the sea, whose bottoms were in it, it seems are on the shor…
279 wordsSECTION 18Jonah 2:7
Jonah 2:7 Ver. 7. When my soul fainted within me,.... Covered with grief; overwhelmed with sorrow; ready to faint and sink at the sight of his sins; and under a sense of the wrath and displeasure of God, and being forsaken by him: I remembered the Lord; his covenant and promises, his former mercies and lovingkindness…
188 wordsSECTION 19Jonah 2:8
Jonah 2:8 Ver. 8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. They that worship idols, who are nothing, mere vanity and lies, and deceive those that serve them, these forsake the God of their lives, and of their mercies; and so do all such who serve divers lusts and pleasures, and pursue the vanities of …
284 wordsSECTION 20Jonah 2:9
Jonah 2:9 Ver. 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving,.... Not only offer up a legal sacrifice in a ceremonial way, when he came to Jerusalem; but along with it the spiritual sacrifice of praise, which he knew was more acceptable unto God; and thus Christ, his antitype, upon his deliverance f…
422 wordsSECTION 21Jonah 2:10
Jonah 2:10 Ver. 10. And the Lord spake unto the fish,.... Or gave orders to it; he that made it could command it; all creatures are the servants of God, and do his will; what he says is done; he so ordered it by his providence, that this fish should come near the shore, and be so wrought upon by his power, that it cou…
440 wordsSECTION 22Jonah 3:1
Jonah 3:1 INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 3 This chapter gives an account of the renewal of Jonah's message to Nineveh, and of his faithful execution of it, Jon 3:1; and of the fruit and effect of it, the conversion of the Ninevites, their faith in God, repentance of their sins, and reformation from them, Jon 3:5; and of God's…
289 wordsSECTION 23Jonah 3:2
Jonah 3:2 Ver. 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city,.... So it is called; See Gill on "Jon 1:2". The order runs in the same words as before; and the same discouragements are presented to Jonah, taken from the greatness of the city, the number of its inhabitants, its being the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, a…
253 wordsSECTION 24Jonah 3:3
Jonah 3:3 Ver. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord,.... He was no longer disobedient to the heavenly vision; being taught by the rod, he acts according to the word; he is now made willing to go on the Lord's errand, and do his business, under the influence of his power and grace…
445 wordsSECTION 25Jonah 3:4
Jonah 3:4 Ver. 4. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey,.... As soon as he came to it, he did not go into an inn, to refresh himself after his wearisome journey; or spend his time in gazing upon the city, and to observe its structure, and the curiosities of it; but immediately sets about his work, and…
388 wordsSECTION 26Jonah 3:5
Jonah 3:5 Ver. 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God,.... Or "in God" {r}: in the word of the Lord, as the Targum; they believed there was a God, and that he, in whose name Jonah came, was the true God; they believed the word the prophet spake was not the word of man, but, the word of God; faith came by hearing the…
347 wordsSECTION 27Jonah 3:6
Jonah 3:6 Ver. 6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh,.... Who was not Sardanapalus, a very dissolute prince, and abandoned to his lusts; but rather Pul, the same that came against Menahem king of Israel, 2Ki 15:19, as Bishop Usher {s} thinks; to him news were brought that there was such a prophet come into the cit…
390 wordsSECTION 28Jonah 3:7
Jonah 3:7 Ver. 7. And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh,.... By a herald or heralds, sent into the several parts of the city: by the decree of the king and his nobles; with whom he consulted, and whose advice he took; and who were equally concerned at this news, and very probably were pres…
295 wordsSECTION 29Jonah 3:8
Jonah 3:8 Ver. 8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,.... As the king was, and the people also were; and this order enjoined the same to the beasts, horses, and camels, whose rich trappings were to be taken off, and sackcloth put upon them, for the greater solemnity, of the mourning; as at this day, at th…
394 wordsSECTION 30Jonah 3:9
Jonah 3:9 Ver. 9. Who can tell,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions prefix to this the word "saying", and take them to be, not the words of the king, but of the Ninevites; though very wrongly: or "who is he that knows"; which some connect with the next word, "he will return": that is, that knows the ways of repenta…
307 wordsSECTION 31Jonah 3:10
Jonah 3:10 Ver. 10. And God saw their words, that they turned from their evil way,.... Not their outward works, in putting on sackcloth and ashes, and fasting; but their inward works, their faith in him, and repentance towards him; and which were attended with fruits and works meet for repentance, in that they forsook…
352 wordsSECTION 32Jonah 4:1
Jonah 4:1 INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 4 This chapter gives us an account of Jonah's displeasure at the repentance of the Ninevites, and at the Lord's showing mercy unto them, Jon 4:1; the angry prayer of Jonah upon it, Jon 4:2; the Lord's gentle reproof of him for it, Jon 4:4; his conduct upon that, Jon 4:5; the gourd prep…
912 wordsSECTION 33Jonah 4:2
Jonah 4:2 Ver. 2. And he prayed unto the Lord,.... But in a very different manner from his praying in the fish's belly: this was a very disorderly prayer, put up in the hurry of his spirit, and in the heat of passion: prayer should be fervent indeed, but not like that of a man in a fever; there should be a warmth and …
606 wordsSECTION 34Jonah 4:3
Jonah 4:3 Ver. 3. 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; an…
404 wordsSECTION 35Jonah 4:4
Jonah 4:4 Ver. 4. Then said the Lord, dost thou well to be angry?] A mild and gentle reproof this; which shows him to be a God gracious and merciful, and slow to anger; he might have answered Jonah's passionate wish, and struck him dead at once, as Ananias and Sapphira were; but he only puts this question, and leaves …
411 wordsSECTION 36Jonah 4:5
Jonah 4:5 Ver. 5. So Jonah went out of the city,.... Had not the inhabitants of it repented, he had done right to go out of it, and shake the dust of his feet against it; or, in such a case, had he gone out of it, as Lot out of Sodom, when just going to be overthrown; but Jonah went out in a sullen fit, because it was…
410 wordsSECTION 37Jonah 4:6
Jonah 4:6 Ver. 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd,.... So the Septuagint render the word; but some say that a worm will not touch that; Jerom renders it an ivy; but neither the gourd nor that rise upwards without some props to support them. The Hebrew word is "kikaion", the same with the "kiki", or "cici", of Herodo…
1,219 wordsSECTION 38Jonah 4:7
Jonah 4:7 Ver. 7. 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 g…
486 wordsSECTION 39Jonah 4:8
Jonah 4:8 Ver. 8. And it came to pass when the sun did arise,.... After that the gourd was smitten and withered; when it was not only risen, but shone out with great force and heat: that God prepared a vehement east wind; or, "a deafening east wind" {u}; which blew so strong, and so loud, as R. Marinus in Aben Ezra a…
558 wordsSECTION 40Jonah 4:9
Jonah 4:9 Ver. 9. And God said to Jonah, dost thou well to be angry for the gourd?.... Or, "art thou very angry for it?" as the Targum: no mention is made of the blustering wind and scorching sun, because the gourd or plant raised up over him would have protected him from the injuries of both, had it continued; and it…
182 wordsSECTION 41Jonah 4:10
Jonah 4:10 Ver. 10. Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd,.... Or, "hast spared it" {c}; that is, would have spared it, had it lain in his power, though but a weeds and worthless thing: for the which thou hast not laboured; in digging the ground, and by sowing or planting it; it being raised up at once …
303 wordsSECTION 42Jonah 4:11
Jonah 4:11 Ver. 11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city?.... See Jon 1:2; what is such a gourd or plant to that? wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons; or twelve myriads; that is, twelve times ten thousand, or a hundred and twenty thousand; meaning not all the inhabitants of Nineveh; for then it…
348 wordsSource & rights
Public domain; John Gill (1697–1771). Source item is marked Public Domain on Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.