LORD of the Gourd

 "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 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. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (Jonah Chapter 4 King James Version)

¶ In the Authorized Version of 1611: the Lord Jesus Christ is the LORD of the Gourd (according to Jonah 4).  However, in the modern versions: God isn’t the ‘LORD of the gourd’ (the word "gourd" has been removed!)

Even though there was recently a PBS TV documentary by that name. In the documentary there was a contest to see who had the biggest pumpkin. Christ can grow some big pumpkins and gourds! (see Col. 1:16)

Christ is Lord of the gourd. And I love Fall or Autumn time.  Pumpkins are used on All Saints Day or All Hallows Day also known as Halloween.

'Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly Cucurbita and Lagenaria. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crop plants in the family Cucurbitaceae, like pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, luffa, and melons.' (Wikipedia article)

The perverse versions take all the interesting stuff out of the Holy Bible. That’s one of the reasons I stick with the 1611. The main reason though is because it’s my Master’s Bible, and I obey HIM; not my own preference or human reasoning.

The word “gourd” is a five letter English word, found five times in our English Bible (AV). The Strong’s number is 7021 and all five instances are found in Jonah Chapter 4.  However “gourds” plural with Strong’s #6498 is in 2 Kings 4:39.

Mark Lewis has a film on PBS Home Video titled “Lords of the Gourd”!

The word “LORD” is found six times in Jonah Chapter 4. And the word “gourd” is found five times.