(Pioneer Bible Translators and The Word for the World use the following introduction in many of their translation projects around the world.)
The book of Jonah is about the prophet Jonah’s mission to the city of Nineveh. Unlike other prophetic books, this book focuses more on the prophet and his actions than on God’s message. Jonah’s ministry happened at about the same time that Jeroboam II was king of Israel, around 800-750 B.C., but scholars do not know when the book itself was written.
God sent Jonah to preach against Nineveh, but Jonah did not obey and went in the opposite direction from Nineveh (1:1–3). He went on board a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. While the ship was sailing to Tarshish, God sent a great storm. The sailors were very afraid, and they threw Jonah into the ocean to calm God’s anger. Jonah prayed and God allowed him to live. God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah and spit him out on dry land. Finally, Jonah went to Nineveh to preach against it, and the people of the city repented. The book of Jonah emphasizes how merciful God is even though Jonah did not want God to be merciful (4:2).
Outline:
1. Chapter 1 explains how Jonah ran away from God and ended up in the belly of a fish.
2. Chapter 2 contains Jonah’s prayer to God while he was in the belly of the fish.
3. In chapter 3, Jonah preaches to Nineveh and the people of the city repent. God decides to spare them.
4. Finally, in chapter 4, Jonah is angry that God showed mercy to the people of Nineveh, and God tells Jonah that He loves all people.
Le livre de Jonas concerne la mission du prophète Jonas envers la ville de Ninive. A la différence des autres livres prophétiques ce livre-ci se concentre beaucoup plus sur le prophète et ses actions que sur le message de Dieu. Ce ministère a eu lieu plus ou moins au même temps que le règne de Jéroboam II en Israël, vers 800-750 avant-JC. Mais les savants ne savent pas la date de l’écriture du livre lui-même.
Dieu a envoyé Jonas à Ninive avec l’instruction de prêcher contre les habitants, mais Jonas n’a pas obéi ; il est parti plutôt dans la direction opposée (1.1-3). Il s’est embarqué dans un navire qui se dirigeait vers la ville de Tarsis. Alors que le navire s’avançait vers Tarsis Dieu a envoyé un grand orage. Les matelots ont eu très peur et ils ont jeté Jonas dans la mer pour apaiser la colère de Dieu.
Jonas a prié et Dieu lui a permis de rester en vie. Dieu a envoyé un grand poisson qui a avalé Jonas et puis l’a rejeté sur la terre ferme. Finalement Jonas est allé à Ninive pour prêcher contre les habitants et ceux-ci se sont repentis. Le livre de Jonas souligne combien Dieu est miséricordieux alors même que Jonas ne voulait pas qu’il le soit. (4.2)
Résumé de Jonas
1. Les chapitres 1:1-2:1 décrivent comment Jonas a essayé de s’échapper de Dieu mais a fini par se trouver dans le ventre d’un poisson.
2. Le chapitre 2:2-11 contient la prière de Jonas lorsqu’il était dans le ventre du poisson.
3. Dans le chapitre 3 Jonas prêche aux habitants de Ninive et ceux-ci se repentent. Dieu se décide de les épargner.
4. Finalement, au chapitre 4, Jonas se fâche du fait que Dieu a manifesté de la miséricorde envers les habitants de Ninive et Dieu dit à Jonas qu’il aime toute personne.
Translation: Swahili
Utangulizi wa Yona
Kitabu cha Yona kinahusu utume wa nabii Yona kwa mji wa Ninawi. Tofauti na vitabu vingine vya kinabii, kitabu hiki kinalenga zaidi juu ya nabii na matendo yake kuliko kwenye ujumbe wa Mungu. Huduma ya Yona ilitokea wakati huo huo ambapo Yeroboamu II alikuwa mfalme wa Israeli, mnamo mwaka 800-750 K.K. (kabla ya kristo), lakini wasomi hawajui wakati ambapo kitabu chenyewe kiliandikwa.
Mungu alimtuma Yona kuhubiri dhidi ya Ninawi, lakini Yona hakutii na akaenda katika mwelekeo kinyume kutoka Ninawi (1:1-3). Alikwenda kwenye meli iliyokuwa ikienda katika mji wa Tarshasi. Wakati meli ilipokuwa ikisafiri kwenda Tarshishi, Mungu alituma dhoruba kubwa. Mabaharia waliogopa sana, na wakamtupa Yona baharini ili kutuliza hasira ya Mungu. Yona aliomba na Mungu alimruhusu kuishi. Mungu akatuma samaki mkubwa kummeza Yona. Hatimaye, Yona alikwenda Ninawi kuhubiri dhidi yake, na watu wa mji walitubu. Kitabu cha Yona kinasisitiza jinsi Mungu alivyo na huruma ingawa Yona hakutaka Mungu awe na huruma (4:2).
Muhtasari:
1. Sura ya 1 inaelezea jinsi Yona alivyomkimbia Mungu na kuishia kwenye tumbo la samaki.
2. Sura ya 2 ina maombi ya Yona kwa Mungu wakati alipokuwa ndani ya tumbo la samaki.
3. Katika sura ya 3, Yona ahubiri Ninawi na watu wa mji watubu. Mungu anaamua kuwaachilia.
4. Mwishowe, katika sura ya 4, Yona amekasirika kwamba Mungu aliwahurumia watu wa Ninawi, na Mungu anamwambia Yona kwamba anawapenda watu wote.
(The Catholic Christian Community Bible [first English edition 1997, other translations into Indonesian, Chinese, Cebuano, Chavacano, French, Ilonggo, Korean, Quechuan, Spanish, and Tagalog] “for the Christian Communities of the Third World” uses the following introduction.)
Few people today misunderstand the nature of this story. The two questions often raised about it in the past are no longer heard: Did Jonah really exist? Did he really stay in the belly of a fish for three days?
The book of Jonah is a story, but the author deserves to be considered a prophet because he very clearly underscored some truths which his contemporaries had forgotten.
This delightful narrative criticizes, not the idolatrous or godless people, but the pious Jews themselves who, locked in their nationalism, easily forget that God is the God of all peoples.
God, the savior of all people
Jonah does not like pagans and if God saves them, Jonah does not feel like paying the price for it. This kind of pettiness, characteristic of an average believer, merely covers up another, much greater scandal for which God is responsible. How are we to understand that God saves everyone if, at the same time, he repeats throughout the bible that Israel alone was chosen, that it alone has the word of life, it alone has a Savior, that all that God demands (circumcision, or later, baptism, or the Eucharist, or sexual prohibitions) is absolutely necessary in order to be saved?
This scandal has always been at the heart of Christianity just as it was with the Jews. Does God speak two languages? Or should we believe that Christian salvation is only one among all those that are offered to peoples from different cultures and religions? This question was so formidable that Christians often tried to dismiss it without even naming it. Thus, following Saint Augustine, the Western Church locked itself in the doctrine of original sin as if in a fortress. We used to assert without batting an eye that after Mr. Adam’s sin, all people were condemned to hell, except for those who were baptized, or at least desired baptism. We have said and preached that until the middle of the twentieth century. This is the reason why still-born babies were not buried on Christian ground. It is also the reason why many missionaries would have given their lives just to baptize a single pagan child.
Saint Augustine kindly contended that hell would be considerably softened for unbaptized children. At the same time, he felt bound to show that all the “virtues of pagans,” all the good we see in them, was totally worthless before God: these virtues were a way of seeking their own perfection without God and therefore, were the product of pride. This denunciation by Augustine of many people (Christians or not) who act and live beyond reproach in the eyes of others or in their own, was certainly insightful; but he would not have gone to such extremes if it had not been necessary to exorcise the famous question: does not God save non-Christians just as he saves us? This would definitely have dampened the enthusiasm of Christians.
To those asking about the will of God that all people be saved the answer was: “God wants to save all human beings provided they believe and become Roman Catholic.” This wall officially began to crack only in the first half of the twentieth century. Throughout the three previous centuries, this concealed violence of the Christian doctrine (a condemnation without appeal of all religions and most of humanity that did not embrace Christianity) scandalized countless open-minded people, opening a path to Western atheism, yet the Church (we should say: the churches) did not budge. Therefore, we should not be surprised if as soon as God’s will to save everyone was acknowledged most Christians began to question their faith. They were not denying it and even conceded that it may have been the best, but thought that all religions were equally valid. Some went farther and thought that everything was optional in this matter and we all save ourselves as best as we can.
So, now we must rethink our Christian identity: what are we in the midst of humanity? What are we saying when we profess that we are only saved by Christ? What does this salvation brought by Christ have to do with the rest of humanity?
No wonder that today countless Christians are perplexed about the subject. They should not be condemned instantly if they feel such a need to be in solidarity with the rest of humanity that they sell off the treasures God entrusted to them: they did not see that the call they received to be the people of Christ entrusts them a unique mission which is necessary for the salvation of the world. It is impossible to overcome such a drastic change in a few years, or even in a hundred years, and perhaps for a long time to come we will be incapable of understanding how God loves and saves everyone and at the same time how the call to the faith that we have received is an exceptional grace.
At least let us recall what the whole Bible tells us, namely, that God is “predilection and fidelity.” It is by the path of fidelity, rather than by the path of reasoning or feelings, that we will enter into this God who is truth.
Down below are the introductions in the Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Spanish editions.
Sa kasalukuyan nating panahon, kakaunti lamang ang nagkakamali tungkol sa uri ng aklat na ito at nagtatanong kung nabuhay nga bang talaga si Jonas, at kung tatlong araw nga siya sa tiyan ng isang isda.
Isang kuwento ang libro ni Jonas, pero marapat na ituring na propeta ang sumulat nito dahil maliwanag na nabigyang-diin niya rito ang ilang katotohanan na nalilimutan na ng kanyang mga kasamahan.
Pinupuna ng kawili-wiling salaysay na ito hindi ang mga dumidiyos sa iba o ang mga di makadiyos kundi ang mga relihiyosong Judio mismo na sa pagkakulong sa kanilang nasyona¬lismo ay madali nilang nalilimutan na ang Diyos ay Diyos ng lahat ng tao.
Translation: Cebuano
Adunay pipila sa atong panahon karon nga masayop bahin sa kinaiya ining maong libro, ug mangutana kon tinuod ba nga nabuhi si Jonas, ug nga nakapuyo sa sulod sa tiyan sa isda sa tulo ka adlaw.
Ang Jonas istorya, apan ang tagsulat angayan lang nga ilhon nga propeta kay klaro kaayo nga nagpadayag siya sa mga kamatuoran nga nalimtan na sa iyang katalirongan.
Kining makalingaw nga sugilanon wala magsaway sa mga nagsimba sa diosdios o sa mga tawo nga wala magtoo og Ginoo kondili, nagsaway sa diyosnon nga mga Judio, kinsa midukot sa ilang nasyonalismo (paghigugma sa nasod), ug dali nga nakalimot nga ang Ginoo, Ginoo sa tanang katawhan.
Translation: Spanish
En el presente siglo son bien pocos los que se equivocan sobre la naturaleza de este libro y que preguntan si realmente Jonás estuvo tres días en el vientre de un pez.
El libro de Jonás es una narración, cuya héroe es un profeta del Reino del Norte, del cual sólo se recuerda el nombre, junto con una promesa de misericordia de Dios en 1 Reyes 14,25. Pero su autor mereció haber sido profeta, puesto que enfatizó aquí con mucha claridad algunas verdades que olvidaban los de su tiempo.
Esta narración graciosa critica, no a los idólatras o a los impíos, sino a los mismos judíos piadosos, que, encerrados en su nacionalismo, olvidan fácilmente que Dios es el Dios de todos los hombres.
La historia de Jonás se hizo inmediatamente popular y Jesús la mencionará:
— La conversión de los ninivitas (Lc 11,30).
— La comparación con los tres días que pasó Jonás en el pez (Mt 12,40)
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