Genesis 20:7

20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed ¹  he is a prophet ²  and he will pray for you; thus you will live. ³  But if you don’t give her back, ⁴  know that you will surely die ⁵  along with all who belong to you.”

Psalms 105:14

105:14 He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

Ezekiel 33:14-15

33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 33:15 He ⁶  returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, ⁷  committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die.

Jonah 3:4

3:4 When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, ⁸  Nineveh will be overthrown!” ⁹ 

¹ tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.

² sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.

³ tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.

⁴ tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.

⁵ tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.

⁶ tn Heb “the wicked one.”

⁷ tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”

⁸ tn Heb “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!” The adverbial use of עוֹד (’od, “yet”) denotes limited temporal continuation (BDB 728 s.v. עוֹד 1.a; Gen 29:7; Isa 10:32). Tg. Jonah 3:4 rendered it as “at the end of [forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown].”

⁹ tn Heb “be overturned.” The Niphal נֶהְפָּכֶת (nehpakhet, “be overturned”) refers to a city being overthrown and destroyed (BDB 246 s.v. הָפַךְ 2.d). The related Qal form refers to the destruction of a city by military conquest (Judg 7:3; 2 Sam 10:3; 2 Kgs 21:13; Amos 4:11) or divine intervention as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:21, 25, 29; Deut 29:22; Jer 20:16; Lam 4:6; BDB 245 s.v. 1.b). The participle form used here depicts an imminent future action (see IBHS 627-28 §37.6f) which is specified as only “forty days” away.