Jonah 4:4 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Doest thou well?... — This rendering may be supported by Deuteronomy 5:28; Jeremiah 1:12, and agrees better with the context than the marginal translation, which follows the LXX., and is undoubtedly a very likely rendering of the Hebrew idiom if taken by itself. Jonah apparently gave his own interpretation to the question, one that suited his mood, “Is thine anger just?” Such a question might imply that the doom of the city was only deferred, and that he had been too hasty in giving up the fulfilment of his prediction. Accordingly he went outside the walls, and sat down to watch what the issue would be. On the other hand, the rendering “Art thou so very angry?” suits best the reply in Jonah 4:9, “I am very angry, even to death.” Probably the Hebrew word, like the French bien, kept both its original and derived meaning, and must be rendered well or very, according to the context.