All persons and animals must wear sackcloth, with its inclusion of the animals in the outward signs of penitence, sounds even stranger than the order for the animals to fast. The same thought is to be found in Judith 4.10. The strangeness is avoided in some translations by the use of some such expression as “they” (New English Bible) or “everyone” Living Bible, but this does not convey to the modern reader the same impression as was made by the original on the first readers. Of course, some say that the expression “both man and beast” has accidentally been copied in verse 8 from verse 7, but an honest translation will either tell the reader this, as in Jerusalem Bible, or translate the present Hebrew text as in Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and others. Taken literally the Hebrew text will also extend to the rest of the verse the association of animals with humans in the other signs of repentance. But it is legitimate to suppose that the writer had, by the second half of the verse, abandoned the thought of the animals.

It may seem contradictory to speak of persons and animals both “wearing sackcloth,” since animals would not normally be spoken of as “wearing clothes.” Therefore it may be necessary to say “all persons must wear sackcloth and sackcloth must be put on all animals” or “… tied on all animals.”

Good News Translation has the main break in the verse after the first clause, and then by saying Everyone must pray earnestly implies that human beings alone are indicated from this point onwards. New English Bible has the main break after the next clause, and then makes it clear that human beings alone are the subject in the last of the verse by saying “let every man abandon his wicked ways.” Here, as often, the word ʾadam “man,” in the first part of the verse, refers to persons of either sex, as suggested in Revised Standard Version. The use of the Hebrew word ʾish in the second sentence, Everyone, does not even exclude a reference to animals, since it has here a distributive force (compare Gen 15.10; Isa 53.6).

In some languages pray earnestly may be expressed metaphorically as “pray with one’s heart exposed” or “pray with true words.” In some instances the meaning may be expressed as “pray and mean what one says.”

The king is represented as being aware of the kind of behavior that required repentance if Jonah’s words were not to come true and the city was not to be destroyed: wickedness in general and violence in particular were to be stopped. New English Bible is more specific than Good News Translation in this respect, with its reference to “habitual violence” rather than simply his evil actions. This last expression represents the more literal “the violence which is in his hands” of Revised Standard Version. The reference to “hands” here is a clear indication that by this time the writer is not longer thinking in terms of animals, but is concerned with human beings.

In some languages it is quite impossible to speak of “giving up wicked behavior.” One may, however, “stop doing what is bad” or “stop being wicked.” The final expression, his evil actions, may be expressed as “being violent,” or “using violence against people,” or “doing harm to people.”

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 .