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And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding ° glad of the gourd.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

4:6 prepared a gourd. There are a number of fast-growing plants in the deserts of the Middle East, and commentators disagree as to the botanical identity of this “gourd.” None, however, would grow to such a height overnight, so this plant, like the fish, must be understood as miraculous. The worm which (like the fish and the gourd) had also been “prepared” by God (Jonah 4:7), must likewise have possessed miraculous abilities, to produce an overnight disintegration of such a large shade plant. The “vehement east wind” (Jonah 4:8) was also prepared by God, making Jonah so conscious of God’s concern and power with regard to his animal and plant creations, that he could finally appreciate God’s concern even for the pagan Assyrians.


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