At this point, the sailors have decided that the “human sacrifice” of Jonah is the only way to stop the storm, and that he must therefore be thrown into the sea, so they turn once again to prayer. This time, however, they pray to Yahweh, since they recognize that he must be responsible for the storm. The prayer is introduced by a particle that New Jerusalem Bible translates as “Oh, please, LORD,” and which is used in addressing God in Psalms 116 and 118, in Jonah’s prayer in 4.2, and in prayers by Moses, Nehemiah, Hezekiah, and Daniel. Apart from these prayers, it occurs only in Gen 50.17, where Joseph is addressed by his brothers.
In some languages the LORD will be rendered as the name “Yahweh.” However, in other languages the title the LORD will be used, and it may in some cases be necessary to indicate whose lord he is. It may then be necessary to mention Jonah; for example, “they cried out to the Lord of Jonah” or “… Jonah’s Lord.” It would not be appropriate to introduce at this point “their Lord” because this would assume an almost immediate conversion on the basis of their fears. Though in verse 16 the text suggests that the sailors promised to serve the Lord, this would probably not mean exclusive adherence to Yahweh. Similarly, in the expression O LORD it may be necessary to add the expression “of Jonah” to identify again just who this “chief” was.
The sailors’ prayer consists of three parts, of which the first two are practically synonymous and are represented by one petition in Good News Translation: don’t punish us with death for taking this man’s life! Revised Standard Version represents the first of the two sentences by “let us not perish for this man’s life.” They are praying that they will not be held guilty of murder for what they are about to do. New English Bible is not very clear in expressing the first petition: “do not let us perish at the price of this man’s life.” This is hardly a natural way of saying in modern English, “do not demand the loss of our lives in exchange for the life of this man,” which is presumably what is intended. The preposition used here in Hebrew is known as the beth pretii; see Gesenius-Kautzsch: “the price bring considered as the means of acquiring a thing.” Other examples include Gen 29.18: “in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.” Perhaps the closest parallel in Hebrew to the usage here is 2 Sam 14.7; “so that we can put him to death for taking his brother’s life” (New English Bible), where benefesh occurs, in the sense of “in exchange for the life of,” as it does in Deut 19.21 and here. Note also Gen 18.28: “Wilt thou destroy the whole city for a mere five men?” (New English Bible), where the possible destruction of Sodom would be due to the lack of five righteous men out of the required fifty. New English Bible might have been clearer here if it had said “Do not let this man’s death be at the cost of ours,” though the meaning intended could be as in Watts, page 81: “The sailors do not want to protect Jonah against God’s wrath at the risk of their own lives.”
The second of the two sentences, which are combined in Good News Translation, is represented in Revised Standard Version by “and lay not on us innocent blood,” in which it follows King James Version. These words in the Hebrew are best understood as making explicit the first sentence of the prayer. It is not, of course, the blood that is innocent, but the person whose blood is shed, or in the case contemplated here, whose life is to be destroyed. For a prayer that resembles this one, in that the people appeal to God to spare them the punishment that might fall upon those responsible for the death of an innocent person, compare Deut 21.7, 8. Jeremiah, on the other hand, asserts that if he is put to death, those responsible will “bring innocent blood” upon themselves (Jer 26.15). In other words, God will hold them guilty of the murder of an innocent man. The principle of protecting “innocent blood” is set out in Deuteronomy 19, especially verse 10, where provision is made for the protection of one who kills another accidentally or without malice. This is the principle to which the sailors appeal here, in that they claim that if they suffer the death penalty for murder, they would be considered guilty, though actually innocent. In a situation like this, Jonah’s relatives would be in no position to avenge his death, but those responsible appeal to God, as the protector of justice, to see to it that they are not punished by him for taking measures designed to ensure the saving of life. So far as they are concerned, Jonah is no enemy against whom they have a grudge, and murder is certainly not their intention (Moffatt “punish us not for a murder”). Winding Quest merely develops the thought of the previous sentence with the idiomatic “don’t hold it against us.” In various ways, most translations agree with New Jerusalem Bible: “Do not hold us guilty of killing an innocent person” (similarly Jerusalem Bible and Knox).
But even this apparently straightforward sentence can be interpreted in more ways than one. Are they saying that, although Jonah is innocent, they nevertheless have no alternative but to sacrifice his life? Or are they saying that they cannot be to blame for killing an innocent man, since Jonah has been shown to be guilty by his own admission that he has offended Yahweh, as well as by the verdict of the casting of lots? On this understanding of the verse, the sailors are appealing to God not to punish them, since they are only innocent executioners of a wrongdoer and are obeying God’s orders.
Whether in these terms or in some other way, the first two elements in the prayer link up with the third, in which the sailors remind God that they are only acting in accordance with his revealed will. Possibly Good News Translation goes too far in suggesting that the sailors are blaming God for what has happened, rather than simply excusing themselves by claiming that the storm and what follows are part of God’s will and purpose. The word translated “set purpose” in New English Bible normally carries with it the suggestion of pleasure (compare King James Version, “as it please thee”), as in Hos 6.6, or where people are the subject, it may even be used in such a context as Gen 34.19, where Shechem is attracted by Dinah.
Punish us with death may be rendered as “cause us to die,” and taking this man’s life may likewise be rendered as “causing this man to die.” Only rarely can one speak of “taking life.”
In some languages it would be inappropriate to repeat O LORD after a second person pronoun such as “you.” The identification of “you” is perfectly clear in view of the direct address occurring in the previous sentence.
You … are responsible for all this may be rendered as “you are the one who has caused all this,” and it is your doing may be rendered as “this is what you have done,” but the two statements “you have caused all this” and “this is what you have done” may seem to be unnecessarily repetitious. A corresponding emphasis may be expressed by rendering these two statements as a single emphatic utterance, “You yourself are the one who has caused all this to happen.”
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 .