In the final verse of the chapter, the narrative is resumed from verse 17 of the previous chapter. The Lord gives an order to the fish: “and now, at the Lord’s bidding” (Knox), and the fish obeys. The idea of God speaking to an animal or a fish may seem strange, but the snake in the Garden of Eden is addressed by God in Gen 3.14, 15. Obediently, the fish proceeds to spew Jonah on the dry land. The verb used here is more accurately translated as “vomited” (Revised Standard Version) or “spewed” (New English Bible), or even “disgorged” (Modern Language Bible), than as spit, the verb used for the action described in Num 12.14; Deut 25.9; and elsewhere. On the other hand, the verb used here is found in Prov 23.8; 25.16, and the corresponding noun in Prov 26.11. The use of spit in the Good News Translation is prompted primarily by the more or less neutral connotations. The term “vomited” has unfortunate connotations, and for many “spewed” is old-fashioned. One of the principal difficulties with a term such as “spit” is that it might suggest that Jonah was only in the mouth of the big fish rather than in the stomach, as is suggested by 2.1. In many languages a term meaning “vomit” does not have the same unpleasant connotations that seem associated with the English term.

The shift between the poetry that ends in verse 9 and the beginning of verse 10 may often be marked by an additional line space, and in some instances by a more extensive transitional expression, for example, “after that” or “sometime later,” but the temporal transition should not suggest any long period of time.

As in so many instances of expressions involving commands or speaking, it may be necessary to place the content of the utterance in the form of direct discourse; for example, “the Lord ordered the fish, ‘Vomit Jonah up on the beach.’ ”

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 .