SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:16

1:16a

Then the men feared the LORD greatly: The storm stopped suddenly and the sea became calm. This showed the sailors that it was the LORD who controlled the storm. As a result, they feared him greatly. The Hebrew verb yaraʾ can mean “to fear” or “to stand in awe of.” With God as the object, it can also mean “to worship,” as it did in 1:9. However, while any of these meanings are possible here, the majority of English versions understand it to mean “fear” or even “terrified.” The addition of the expression “with a great fear” in the Hebrew text here also suggests that “fear” is the correct meaning.

1:16b

they offered a sacrifice to the LORD: We are not given any details about what kind of sacrifice the sailors made or how it was done. However, the Hebrew verb used here, when it refers to literal sacrifices, is always used in the OT for sacrificing an animal. So they probably killed an animal.

1:16c

made vows to Him: We also do not know what the sailors promised in their vows. They probably promised to be loyal or faithful to the LORD in some way. They may have promised him that they would do something which they felt would please him, or they may have promised to give him another offering once they were safely back to land. Try not to translate in a way that indicates they promised to obey God, since it is unclear what vows they made. You should make your translation as general as possible.

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SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 4:11

4:11a

So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh: The book ends with another rhetorical question to which the implied answer is “Yes, I [the LORD] am right to have compassion for the people in Nineveh.” If you cannot use rhetorical questions in this way in your language, you can use a statement instead. See 4:11d in the Display.

care about: This is the same Hebrew verb ḥus as in 4:10b. See the comments there. You should translate the verb in the same way in the two verses.

4:11b-c

which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left: Here the LORD contrasted Jonah’s compassion for an insignificant plant with his own compassion for the people of Nineveh. If Jonah could feel compassion for a plant, which only lived a day, it was even more fitting that the LORD should have compassion on the people of Nineveh, who were much more important.

more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left: Scholars do not agree about to whom this refers. The two possibilities are:

(1) This refers to all the people living in Nineveh. In this case the expression who cannot tell their right hand from their left is a Hebrew idiom which means that the people cannot tell right from wrong.#

(2) This refers only to the small children living in Nineveh, children too young to be able to tell their right hand from their left hand. (Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1), as do the majority of English versions and commentaries.

Some versions make explicit the meaning of the Hebrew idiom who cannot tell their right hand from their left. For example, New Century Version has:

which has more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know right from wrong (New Century Version)

You need to decide whether you should do the same or keep the literal expression with perhaps a footnote to explain its meaning.

4:11d

and many cattle as well: God not only had compassion on the people of Nineveh, he also had compassion on the animals and spared them as well.

cattle: The Hebrew word behemah which the Berean Standard Bible translates as cattle can also be a general term for domestic animals and is not limited to cattle. Here is a more general way to translate this word:

animals (Good News Translation)

General Comment about 4:11

In some languages it may be more natural to reorder 4:11, so that God’s statement about the size of the city comes before his rhetorical question about his concern for them. One model for this would be the New International Version:

But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? (New International Version)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2:10

2:10

And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land: The fish obeyed the LORD’s command and vomited Jonah onto the shore. In some languages, it may be necessary to use direct speech for the command (see the second meaning line in the Display of 2:10).

vomited: Good News Translation uses the words “to spit” rather than vomited. However, remember that Jonah was in the belly of the fish and not in its mouth, so the concept of “to vomit” is probably more accurate.

dry land: We do not know where this occurred on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, but you may need to specify that the dry land meant here was the beach or the shore.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:6

1:6a

The captain approached him: The captain of the ship, that is, the man who was in charge of the ship, found Jonah asleep and was surprised. Although it is possible that the captain had gone looking for Jonah, most commentators consider it more likely that he just noticed Jonah asleep when he went down into the ship for some other reason, perhaps to get some more cargo to throw into the sea.

1:6b

How can you sleep?: His question to Jonah was not a real question, but a rhetorical one. He was scolding Jonah for being asleep when he should have been praying to his god for help. If rhetorical questions cannot be used in your language for scolding, you may need to use a statement here instead of a question.

1:6c

Get up and call upon your God: The captain ordered Jonah to pray fervently to his god for help. Notice Berean Standard Bible uses God with a capital “G” because it refers to the true God even though the captain did not yet know that Jonah’s god was the true God. However, since the captain did not know this he probably talked about him as if he were just one of many gods. Other versions do not capitalize “god” here (New International Version, NET Bible, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, etc).

Notice that qum here has its normal meaning of “get up” although the construction is similar to 1:2a. Jonah was lying down, so it is natural that the captain should tell him to Get up. So it should be translated as a separate verb.

1:6d

Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish: The people from the nations near Israel believed that storms were caused and controlled by various gods and that they had the power to stop or even start storms. Therefore, the captain felt that it was very important that everyone on the ship ought to be praying to their gods so the people on board the ship would be spared and not die.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 4:1

Section 4:1–11

The LORD showed Jonah his mercy and compassion

Jonah was upset that the LORD had not destroyed the people of Nineveh, and he argued with the LORD about it. The LORD taught Jonah that Jonah, too, should have compassion on the people of Nineveh. The LORD caused a plant to grow to shelter Jonah from the sun and then sent a worm to destroy it. When Jonah was upset about the plant being destroyed, the LORD told him that if he could be concerned about a mere plant, it was more fitting that the LORD should be concerned about people—as people are more important to him than plants. This was to show Jonah how much the LORD cared about people—even the enemies of the Israelites.

4:1

Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry: When Jonah saw that the LORD had not destroyed Nineveh, he was not pleased. In fact, he was very angry about it.

Jonah, however, was greatly displeased: This expression is literally “it was evil to Jonah with great evil.” This is a strong expression in Hebrew. If you must translate in a way that says that Jonah was unhappy, make it clear in your statement that Jonah was extremely (very) upset. One translation is “this was absolutely disgusting to Jonah” (Stuart, p. 498). Here is another translation:

This made Jonah very indignant (New Jerusalem Bible)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:17

This verse is actually the first verse of chapter 2 in the Hebrew text. Some English translations also follow the Hebrew numbering system (New Jerusalem Bible, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures). You should follow the numbering system of the national language translation used in your area.

1:17a

Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah: The form of the Hebrew verb minneh used here and translated appointed by Berean Standard Bible means “to appoint, ordain.” This is an important word in the book of Jonah and shows that the LORD was in control over everything that happened to Jonah. Here is another way to translate this word:

At the Lord ’s command… (Good News Translation)

a great fish: The Hebrew word translated as fish refers to creatures/animals that live in the sea. We are not told what kind of creature it was. Some have suggested that it may have been a whale, or a shark, or even a sea monster (Kleinert, p. 25). The important fact is that it was big enough to swallow Jonah alive and that he was inside it for three days and three nights.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 3:1

Section 3:1–10

The LORD again told Jonah to go to Nineveh and this time he obeyed

This section records how Jonah finally obeyed the LORD and went to Nineveh to preach to the people there. Then the people of Nineveh repented of their sinful ways and the LORD did not destroy them. An alternative title for this section could be: “The people of Nineveh repent.”

3:1

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: This verse is similar to 1:1. It begins the second major part of the book. The LORD once more commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:7

1:7a–b

“Come!” said the sailors to one another. “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity that is upon us.”: There is a jump in the narrative at this point. The Berean Standard Bible just moves to the next action but in your language it may be necessary to fill in some of the missing steps. Between 1:6 and 1:7, the sailors had noticed that their prayers did not seem to be working. Also, the captain and Jonah had had time to get back to the deck of the ship. Decide whether you need to make any of these steps explicit in your translation.

“Come!”…“Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity that is upon us.”: As the situation became more dangerous and their prayers didn’t work, the sailors decided that the storm had happened because someone on the ship had done something to offend one of the gods. So they decided to cast lots to find out who the guilty person was.

“Come!”: You should probably not translate this literally. The Hebrew word here has the sense in English of “come on, let us do something.” Good News Translation and Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures just omit it.

cast lots: People often cast lots to determine the cause of events which puzzle them. The way the lots were actually cast on this occasion is not known. Perhaps the sailors threw dice or drew straws. Another possibility is that each person’s name was written on small tablets or pieces of wood. One of these tablets was then picked at random. The person whose name was on the chosen tablet would be the person who was at fault. You should try, if possible, to use an expression which does not identify a particular method of casting lots.

1:7c

the lot fell on Jonah: Jonah was picked out by lot. This proved to the others on the ship that he was the one responsible for the storm, or at least that he knew something about why it had happened.

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Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000