Just as the Lord arranged for a fish in 1.17, so he arranges for a plant to grow up and give added shelter to Jonah. The same verb is used in 1.17, here, and in the next two verses. The exact nature of the plant has been the object of much discussion, and various translations have been suggested, some based on etymology and some on ancient translations. Fauna and Flora of the Bible favors “castor oil plant,” pointing out the similarity between the Hebrew qiqayon and the Egyptian name for this plant. This is the translation found in Chinese Union Version, Mowinckel. Jerusalem Bible, as well as in the margin of Revised Standard Version and New English Bible. In New Jerusalem Bible the word “ricinus” is used to denote this same plant. An alternative suggestion, based on the Septuagint, is “gourd,” as in King James Version, Moffatt, An American Translation, Modern Language Bible, Revised Standard Version (New English Bible “climbing gourd”). New American Bible has “a gourd plant,” accompanied by a note stating that the Hebrew word “means here a wide-leafed plant of the cucumber or castor-bean variety,” and Modern Language Bible has a similar note. Knox, following the Vulgate, translates as “ivy plant,” while Bible in Basic English and Living Bible prefer “vine.” By using the general expression, a plant, Good News Translation recognizes that the exact nature of the plant is immaterial. There is not even any evidence that the author depicts it as climbing up the shelter; it could just as well have been standing independently. Revised Standard Version and New American Standard Bible are also content to have “plant” in the text, though in each case the marginal note supports “castor oil plant.” The plant is not mentioned anywhere else, so there is really no clear evidence by which to identify it.
The expression LORD God used here is an unusual combination, occurring mainly in the story of creation in Genesis 2 and 3 and in Chronicles, but otherwise not more than half a dozen times. It is not the same Hebrew expression as is translated “Sovereign LORD” in Good News Translation. The expression the LORD God may be expressed as “God who is the Lord” or “the Lord who is God.” It would be wrong to use an expression in which “the Lord” is simply an honorific title of God, equivalent to “sir God.”
The verb in the expression “should grow up” (New English Bible) may either be understood as the simple form, with the plant as subject, or the causative, with God as subject; the form is the same.
As a causative the verb made a plant grow up may be expressed as “the Lord God caused a plant to grow up.” Over Jonah may be “above Jonah.” It is important to avoid an expression that would mean that the plant covered Jonah; in fact, it is better in some instances to translate the first part of verse 6 as “the Lord God made a plant grow up so as to shade Jonah.”
According to Revised Standard Version the plant grew up “to save him from his discomfort.” This last word translates the same Hebrew word as is found in 3.8, 10 and 4.1. There the word refers to the evil behavior of the people of Nineveh, the disaster that God decided not to inflict on them, and the displeasure felt by Jonah in view of God’s mercy. So here the word may refer to Jonah’s discomfort or his “distress” (New English Bible), in other words, his evil situation. This is expressed in a positive way in Good News Translation, so that he would be more comfortable. But in view of the use of the same word in verse 1 with reference to Jonah, it may mean “to release him from his bad mood” (compare Jerusalem Bible “and soothe his ill-humor”), especially in view of the third person suffix.
So that he would be more comfortable may be expressed in this context as “so that he would not be so hot.” Such an expression may, however, have a double meaning, referring not only to the heat of the sun upon him but to his own heated anger, thus suggesting a reference to 4.1.
There is no justification for the additional clause at the beginning of the verse in Living Bible “and when the leaves of the shelter withered in the heat,” since the Hebrew neither states nor implies this.
The result was as might be expected. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. This is more forceful than New English Bible, “Jonah was grateful for the gourd.” The construction here is similar to that of 1.16, “feared with a great fear.” So here, “rejoiced with a great joy” (compare Matt 2.10 Revised Standard Version). The expression Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant must be inverted in some languages to read “The plant caused Jonah to be very happy indeed” or “The plant made Jonah extremely happy.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Jonah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .