SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2:9

2:9a

But I: In this verse Jonah contrasted himself and his behavior with those who worshiped idols (2:8). One way in English of showing this contrast is to begin the verse with “But as for me, I…”

with the voice of thanksgiving: It can refer to either spoken or sung praise. Hence Contemporary English Version has “shouts of praise” instead of Berean Standard Bible’s voice of thanksgiving. Both are a kind of prayer.

will sacrifice to You: While Jonah thanked the LORD, he also intended to make a sacrifice to him. Exactly what the sacrifice would be is not mentioned, but, as in 1:16, the Hebrew verb used here usually refers to animal sacrifices.

2:9b

I will fulfill what I have vowed: Here Jonah promised to fulfill the promise/vow he made to the LORD. He made this promise while he was still in the belly of the fish. He had not drowned, but now he needed to be delivered from inside the fish. The text does not tell us what Jonah promised to do. This is similar to the sailors’ reaction to their deliverance in 1:16.

2:9c

Salvation is from the LORD!: This statement declares that the LORD alone is able to save/rescue. Jonah was stating that the LORD was in control of the situation and could save him. Jonah again referred to the LORD in the third person (see 2:2 and 2:7). However, here it is probably best to keep the third person reference and consider that Jonah was making a statement about the LORD rather than addressing a remark to him. No major English version substitutes a second person reference here.

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SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:5

1:5b

each cried out to his own god: The sailors were aware that unless some god helped them, the ship would sink, and they would all die. So because they were afraid, each of them called to the particular god he believed in to help/rescue them.

his own god: In Jonah, there is a distinction made between “God”—that is, the LORD—and “god/gods.” Notice that the letter “g” in the English spelling of god in this verse is not capitalized. This shows that it is not the LORD, the true God, who is being referred to here. It is possible that these sailors were from different nations and each nationality had its own gods. However, it is more likely that these sailors were all Phoenicians (Ellison p. 370), who believed in many different gods.

1:5c

And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load: As well as praying to their gods to rescue them, they did their best to help the ship remain floating. A heavy ship floats lower in the water than a light ship and therefore has a greater chance of water splashing into it and causing the ship to sink. Therefore, the sailors threw the cargo overboard to make it lighter.

the ship’s cargo: If you do not have a term for cargo in your language, you could say “the things the ship was carrying.”

1:5d

But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep: It is not clear whether Jonah went down into the hold of the ship and went to sleep before the storm started or during it. Many English versions retain this ambiguity. Other versions make it clear that it was before the storm. For example:

All this time, Jonah was down below deck, sound asleep (Contemporary English Version)

Most other versions use the connecting word “Meanwhile,” which also makes it clear that Jonah had gone to sleep before the storm. It is recommended that you follow this interpretation.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 3:10

3:10b

they had turned from their evil ways: This is the same expression as in 3:8c. See the note there.

3:10c

He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them: The verb naḥam, which the Berean Standard Bible translates as relented, is the same verb discussed in the note in 3:9a, where the translation “to change one’s mind” was preferred. You should translate it in the same way here.

In the Hebrew, the verse ends with “and he (God) did not do it.” The Berean Standard Bible combines the ideas of changing one’s mind and of not doing something with the word relented. If it would make more sense in your language to separate those ideas you could follow the structure of, for example, the New Revised Standard Version instead of the Berean Standard Bible. Here is another way to translate this:

God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (New Revised Standard Version)

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.

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)

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Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000