So he prayed to the LORD, saying, "O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him—grain and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
Significance
Both Jonah 4:2 and Joel 2:13-14 cite the Exodus 34:6 divine attribute formula—חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם (channun werachum), אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim), רַב־חֶסֶד (rav-chesed)—and both add the clause about God relenting from disaster (וְנִחָם עַל־הָרָעָה). Yet the rhetorical contexts are strikingly opposed: Joel employs the formula to motivate Israel's repentance, holding out hope that God "may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him" (Joel 2:14). Jonah, by contrast, hurls the formula at God as an accusation, angry that these very attributes led to Nineveh's reprieve. The shared confession with opposite emotional valences reveals a profound theological tension: God's mercy, which is Israel's greatest comfort (Joel), is also the ground on which He extends grace to Israel's enemies (Jonah).