slow to anger, and abundant in mercy, and that thou 5 repentest of evil. And now, O Jehovah, take, I pray thee, my life from me: because it is § better 4 for me to die than to live, And Jehovah said, Doest thou well that thine anger is || kindled? 5 Now Jonah had gone out of the city, and had sat on the east side of the city, and had made himself a shelter there, and had sat under it in the shade, till 6 he should see what would become of the city. And Jehovah, even God, prepared a plant; and it grew over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his displeasure. And Jonah rejoiced § Hebr. my death is better than my life. ex kindled unto thee. * with great joy. 4. Doest thou well, &c.] Literally, Num benefaciendo accensa est tibi ira? Jonah seems to have thought that his veracity as a prophet, and the honour of his office, were affected. His impatience here, and v. 8, was highly criminal; and illustrates the general disposition of the Hebrews. 5. ---had gone] That verbs in the preter form have this force, see Gen. xx. 4. 1 Sam. xxx. i. among very many instances. While Jonah was in this situation, and perhaps expected an overthrow of the city by earthquake or fire in the course of forty days, God's gracious purpose towards Nineveh was revealed to him. ---a shelter] The word signifies an artificial covert, as a tent or booth: and also a natural one; as Jer. xxv. 38. Job xxxviii. 40. See Harmer. i. 159. 6. a plant] Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 623, and also Hiller and Celsius, say that the ricinus, or palma Christi, is here meant. Pliny calls this plant cici; and its height, which is that of the olive, the largeness of its leaves, which are like those of the vine, and the quickness of its growth, are said to favour this supposition. See Plin. Nat. Hist. l. xv. c. vii. We may justly attribute a miraculous growth to that which shaded Jonah. ---and it grew] So the versions, and Chald. --to deliver him] Houbigant rightly reads by; the construction, as it now stands, not occurring elsewhere. ---from his displeasure] Which he had conceived, v. 1: to abate the heat; and thus to ease his mind, by easing his body, Or to deliver him from his affliction, or distress, on account of the heat. H 7 ceedingly because of the plant. But God prepared a worm when the morning † dawned on the mor8 row; and it smote the plant, and it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a still east wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he was faint; and he asked within § himself to die, and said, It is || better for me to 9 die than to live. And God said unto Jonah, Doest thou well that thine anger is kindled for the plant? And he said, I do well that mine anger is † kindled 10 even unto death. And Jehovah said, Thou wouldest have spared the plant, for which thou hast not laboured, neither hast thou made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished § in a night: 11 and shall not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons, who + Hebr. rose. smote. his soul. my death is better than my life. * kindled unto thee. † kindled unto me. was the son of a night. § the son of a night. 8. ---a still east wind.] Kavowy, ó. a very scorching and suffocating wind in those countries; as deserts of burning sand lay to the east, or south-east. Peritsol, itin. mundi p. 180, in Sharpe's ed. of Hyde's works, derives the word from wn to plough; because "ventus ita exarat continentem illum, ut arena ascendat in aërem." --for himself] Within, or for, his soul; that is, by a known Hebraism, n, within or for, himself. Lev. xi. 43, 4. Isai. xlvi. 2. Matth. xxvi. 38. 10. wouldest have spared] For this force of verbs in the preter form, sec, among many other instances, Numb. xxii. 33. Judges viii. 19. Ex. ix. 15. which last place should be thus rendered: "For now I wou'd have stretched forth mine hand, and would have smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence; and thou shouldest have been cut off from the earth: but indeed for this cause have I continued thee, [and have not destroyed thee by the pestilence,] to shew thee, &c." See the close of v. 29. Jonah seems to have been grieved that so extraordinary and beautiful a plant perished; as well as for the loss of its shelter. ---in a night] Some MSS. and editions read raw and 121. 11. six score thousand] Reckoning those of a tender age cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? at a fifth part, the city contained six hundred thousand inhabitants. See Boch. Geogr. 252, 3. ---and their left hand] See on Joel ii. 17, for the use of the Hebrew prepositions. ---much cattle] in the large circuit of Nineveh, as in that of Babylon, space was probably left for cattle to feed. Quintus Curtius says of Babylon, "Edificia non sunt admota muris, sed fere spatium unius jugeris absunt. Ac ne totam quidem urbem tectis occupaverunt; per xc stadia habitatur; nec omnia continua sunt: credo, quia tutius visum est pluribus locis spargi: cætera serunt coluntque; ut, si externa vis ingruat, obsessis alimenta ex ipsius urbis solo subministrentur." 1 СНАР. I. THE words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which came unto him in a vision concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, * *Hebr. he saw. 1. Amos] Though this prophet was of Tekoa, a city in the tribe of Judah, (see 2 Chron. xi. 5, 6. and Josh. xv, 20, 59 in the Greck,) yet he dwelt in Israel, (c. vii. 12,) and prophesied chiefly against that kingdom. See c. ii. 6, &c. He was a shepherd and herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: c. i. 1. vii. 14. But rural imployments were general, and honourable, among his countrymen. However, in the words "I was no prophet, "Neither was I the son of a prophet," c. vii. 14, he seems to distinguish himself from those who were educated in the schools founded by Samuel. He borrows many images from the scenes in which he had been engaged; but he introduces them with skill, and gives them force and dignity by the eloquence and grandeur of his manner. We shall find in him many affecting and pathetic, many elegant and sublime passages. No prophet has more magnificently described the Deity; or more gravely rebuked the luxurious; or reproved injustice and oppression with greater warmth and a more generous indignation. An eminent judge and master of style pronounces him nearly equal to the very first prophets in elevation of sentiments and loftiness of spirit; and scarcely inferior to any in splendour of diction and beauty of composition. De sacra poesi Hebr. præl. xxi. shepherds] Kimchi says that shepherds were called pa, because some sheep were spotted: Gen. xxx. 32: Drusius, because a mark was stampt on them. Bochart derives the word from a corresponding Arabic one, which signifies an inferior kind of sheep or goats, and the shepherd of such; and hence a shepherd in general. Hieroz. i. 442. Israel] Secker. 6. Scribitur abreviate IAHM, et aganλ IHA,” Uzziah] He reigned over Judah from the year before Christ 809, to the year 758. and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king 2 Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: Jehovah will roar from Sion, 3 And from Jerusalem he will utter his voice: And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they threshed Gilead with threshing-wains of iron: Jeroboham] See on Jon. i. 1. ---earthquake] This earthquake is referred to Zech. xiv. 5; and probably, as Bishop Lowth thinks, Isai. v. 25. Josephus describes some of its effects; and attributes it to Uzziah's inva. sion of the priest's office, recorded 2 Chron. xxvi. 16. Ant, ix. x. 4. 2. Jehovah---voice] These two lines occur Joel iii. 16. See also Jer. xxv. 30. The meaning is, that God will soon spread terror, like beasts of prey when they roar: Amos iii. 8: in other words, that he will soon display his power in executing judgment. The particular judgment here threatened is a drought. See c. iv. 6. vi. 12. --from Sion] His dwelling place; where he exhibits his glory between the Cherubim. See Jer. xxv. 30. ---Carmel] A very fruitful mountain in the tribe of Judah. Josh. xv. 55. Isai. xxxv. 2. 3. I will not turn away, &c.] For the multiplied transgressions of Damascus, the capital of Syria, I will not rescue it, sc. Dy the people, from punishment. See Ps. xxxv. 17, The lxx here translate the suffix by aurov, v. 6. by aures, and v .9. by , referring it to the people, the inhabitants, the city. Or, I will not convert the people. Lament. v. 21. Jer. xxxi. 18. Or, I will not pardon it: sc. yup the transgression. Or, I will not turn it back, or revoke it: sc. my purpose, or my word, See Numb. xxiii, 19, 20; where 7 may be understood "For three transgressions of Damascus, "And for four, I will not restore it. Lowth's Prel. v. 2. p. 52. Est Litotes: Certissime puniam, et exequam illud decretur Confer Num. xxiii. 20. Dathius. meum. ---threshed] This alludes to the threshing-wain described |