SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000 – Page 4

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.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 4:2

4:2b

is this not what I said while I was still in my own country?: Jonah told the LORD that this was just what he expected to happen. He had feared that if he went to preach to the people of Nineveh, they might repent of their evil ways and the LORD would not destroy them.

This is a rhetorical question; Jonah was complaining. If you cannot use rhetorical questions in your language when you complain about something, you will need to use a statement instead. See 4:2b in the Display for examples of both options.

while I was still in my own country: Here Jonah was referring to his home country, Israel.

4:2c

This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish: Since Jonah wanted Israel’s enemies to be destroyed, he did not want the LORD to spare Nineveh. So rather than give them the chance to repent, he ran away to Tarshish.

4:2d

I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God: In Hebrew, this part of the verse begins with the connecting word kiy “for.” Although the Berean Standard Bible and a number of other versions have omitted it, it is an important connection. Jonah ran away because he knew God was kind and would forgive the people of Nineveh if they believed God’s message through Jonah and repented from their sins. You should make sure this relationship is clear in your translation.

a gracious and compassionate God: The two adjectives used here, ḥannun (gracious) and raḥum (compassionate), are usually only used to refer to God.

gracious: This means that God is kind to those who are evil and who are his enemies. Because he is gracious, he treats them with kindness even though such people do not deserve such treatment from him.

compassionate: This means that God shows pity to those who suffer and is merciful to those who do not deserve mercy.

4:2e

slow to anger: The Hebrew expression here has two aspects: first, someone who does not get angry easily or quickly, and, second, someone who is even-tempered and patient (UBS Handbook Handbook, p. 105). Since there is no English word that includes both aspects in its meaning, English versions handle this expression in two ways:

(1) They emphasize “not getting angry quickly”. This can be expressed positively as “slow to get angry,” or negatively as “not quick to get angry.”

(2) They emphasize “being patient”.

It is recommended that you follow the first option, unless your term for “patient” includes the idea of someone who doesn’t get easily angered.

4:2f

abounding in loving devotion: The Hebrew word translated here as loving devotion is ḥeseḏ. See how you translated the same word in 2:8b. This word often contains the meaning, “faithfulness, loyalty, steadfastness.” Here are some other ways to translate this word:

steadfast love (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
loyal love (NET Bible)
-or-
unfailing love (New Living Translation (2004))

The same list of God’s attributes in 4:2d–f, that is, “gracious,” “compassionate,” “slow to anger,” and abounding in loving devotion, is also found in Exodus 34:6, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8, and Joel 2:13.

4:2g

One who relents from sending disaster: This aspect of God’s character is not found in the other lists mentioned above because it is specific to Jonah’s situation.

relents from sending disaster: This is literally “changes his mind about the evil” and is the same expression as was found in 3:10c. They should be translated the same way in both places.

relents: This verb is again naḥam. See the discussion on this verb in 3:9a.

The idea that the LORD could change his mind and not destroy people was not a comforting thought to Jonah because he had hoped that the LORD would destroy the people of Nineveh.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2:1

Section 2:1–10

Jonah thanked the LORD for rescuing him

This section records the prayer that Jonah prayed after he was swallowed by the fish. Notice that the prayer is in the form of poetry. (Both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation show this.) Therefore the structure of chapter two is very different from the other three chapters in Jonah, which are narrative material. If possible, try to translate the material in this chapter in a natural poetic form in your language. However, remember that the message is more important than the form in which it is written.

When the sailors threw Jonah overboard into the sea, he thought he would drown. However, the large fish which the LORD sent swallowed him, so he was saved from the stormy sea.

2:1

From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God: Then Jonah prayed the following prayer thanking the LORD for rescuing him (even though he was not yet on dry land!).

his God: This does not mean Jonah owned God. It means the God whom Jonah served and worshiped. Depending on how you have chosen to translate “LORD,” there may be difficulties in translating this combined expression. See the discussion on LORD in the Introduction.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 3:2

3:2a

Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh: This part of the command is the same as the first time the LORD spoke to Jonah. See the note on 1:2a. You should translate it in the same way here.

3:2b

and proclaim to it the message that I give you: This verse does not give the content of the message, but from the context (see 3:4), we know that it was a message of judgment and destruction.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:8

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 4:3

4:3a–b

And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live: Jonah became so angry that he asked the LORD to let him die. He preferred to die than live and see the LORD be merciful to his enemies, the people of Nineveh.

And now: The word translated And now is not used in the sense of “At this minute” here, and you should avoid using a word in your language which would give this impression. This expression in Hebrew indicates that what follows is Jonah’s conclusion based on what he said in 4:2, that is, if God was going to spare the people of Nineveh, Jonah would prefer to be dead. In English And now can have this function, but other versions use words that more directly introduce conclusions. For example:

So (God’s Word)
-or-
Therefore (Revised Standard Version)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2:2

2:2a

In my distress I called to the LORD: Jonah had been in a dangerous situation, about to drown in the sea, so he had called to the LORD to rescue him from death.

distress: The word in Hebrew translated distress by the Berean Standard Bible means “distress, trouble.”

2:2b

and He answered me: The LORD responded to Jonah’s cry for help and rescued him from death by providing a huge fish to swallow him.

Notice that in 2:2a–b Jonah first addressed the LORD in the third person He as if he were giving a testimony about his experience with the LORD. Then in 2:2d, Jonah switched to the second person “you (sing).” Alternating between the second and third person is a typical pattern in Hebrew, especially in poetry. In some languages this would not be natural or possible. The Good News Translation has used only the second person 2:2 to make it clear that Jonah is addressing his prayer to the LORD. You may need to do the same thing.

2:2c

From the belly of Sheol I called for help: This is parallel to the expression “In my distress I called to the LORD” in 2:2a.

In my distress

I called to the LORD

From the belly

I called for help

of Sheol

It further describes the danger that Jonah was in as he was about to drown in the sea.

the belly of Sheol: The word Sheol often refers to the place of the dead. This does not mean that Jonah had actually died. The term Sheol (Hebrew šeʾol) is often used in the Psalms to refer to immediate danger of death (Kleinert, p. 26). So by using this expression, Jonah was saying that he had felt sure that he was about to die. So he had called to the LORD to rescue him. Here is another way to translate this:

deep in the world of the dead (Good News Translation)

I called for help: This is one word in Hebrew, a synonym for the word translated “called” in 2:2a.

2:2d

and You heard my voice: This is parallel to “and He answered me” in 2:2b and means the same thing, that is, the LORD rescued Jonah when he cried to him for help.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 3:3

3:3a

the word of the LORD: This expression should be translated in the same way as in 1:1 and 3:1.

3:3b

an exceedingly great city: This translates a very difficult expression in Hebrew (literally “great to God”). There are two possible interpretations:

(1) The phrase is a superlative, meaning “a very great city.” Most translations understand this in the sense of “large.”

(2) The phrase may be understood in a more literal way such as “it was great in God’s eyes.” Some commentators prefer this interpretation and understand it to mean that God thought that Nineveh was important enough to send Jonah to it with a message.

Although the second interpretation makes sense in the context, no major English version has followed it, so it is recommended that you follow the first interpretation.

3:3c

requiring a three-day journey: The Hebrew here is literally “a walk/journey of three days.” This probably means that it took three days to go across it, or to make a visit to it. Since the main city of Nineveh was only 3 miles across, this description probably included the areas surrounding the city as well.

Step into the multitudes of languages of the Bible and join the worldwide conversation!

Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 2000