1:8a

who is to blame for this calamity that is upon us?: It is not entirely clear why the sailors should have asked this question when the lot had already proven that Jonah was to blame. So some English versions have reworded the question. For example, the New Revised Standard Version asks the reason for the storm: “Tell us why this calamity has come upon us.” However, the way the Berean Standard Bible (as well as the New International Version, Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, King James Version, New Century Version) has translated it is the clearest way of understanding the Hebrew, so you should follow these versions. Perhaps the sailors wanted Jonah to admit his guilt himself, so they could be certain it was his fault.

1:8b

What is your occupation: There are two possible interpretations of this question:

(1) The sailors wanted to know what Jonah’s occupation was. This seems to be the clearest meaning of the Hebrew word melaʾḵah and is probably how this should be translated. The main difficulty is why the sailors should have been interested in Jonah’s occupation at all. It has been suggested that they thought it was possible that his occupation may have been one which would have caused the gods to be angry.

(2) The sailors wanted to know what was Jonah’s purpose or reason for traveling on the ship. This fits the context well, but is not the most natural understanding of the Hebrew.

It is recommended that you follow the first option (1).

1:8c

and where have you come from? What is your country: This would appear to be the same question expressed in two different ways. The Good News Translation translates this as a single question:

What country do you come from? (Good News Translation, see also New Living Translation (2004))

However, these two questions could reflect the many questions the sailors were asking Jonah. If you think this is the case, you may want to keep both questions. You need to decide which is most natural in your language, that is, to keep both questions as the Berean Standard Bible has done, or to combine these two sentences into one as the Good News Translation and New Living Translation (2004) have done.

1:8d

and who are your people?: Here the sailors wanted to know what ethnic group Jonah was from. Perhaps it was clear from his speech or appearance that he was a foreigner to them. This was important to them because different ethnic groups usually worshiped different gods.

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