4:7 So God sent 1 a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. 4:8 When the sun began to shine, God sent 2 a hot 3 east wind. So the sun beat down 4 on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, 5 and said, “I would rather die than live!” 6
1 tn Or “appointed.” The verb מָנָה (manah) in the Piel stem means “to send, to appoint” (Ps 61:8; Jonah 2:1; 4:6-8; Dan 1:5, 10-11; HALOT 599 s.v. מנה 2; BDB 584 s.v. מָנָה).
2 tn Or “appointed.” See preceding note on v. 7.
3 tc The MT adjective חֲרִישִׁית (kharishit, “autumnal”) is a hapax legomenon with an unclear meaning (BDB 362 s.v. חֲרִישִׁי); therefore, the BHS editors propose a conjectural emendation to the adjective חֲרִיפִית (kharifit, “autumnal”) from the noun חֹרֶף (khoref, “autumn”; see BDB 358 s.v. חרֶף). However, this emendation would also create a hapax legomenon and it would be no more clear than relating the MT’s חֲרִישִׁית to I חָרַשׁ (kharash, “to plough” [in autumn harvest]).
4 tn Heb “attacked” or “smote.”
5 tn Heb “he asked his soul to die.”
6 tn Heb “better my death than my life.”