Jonah 1:8

1:8 They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us? ¹  What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And who are your people?” ² 

Jonah 3:7

3:7 He issued a proclamation and said, ³  “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “On whose account is this calamity upon us?”

[1:8]  ² tn Heb “And from what people are you?”

[3:7]  ³ tn Contrary to many modern English versions, the present translation understands the king’s proclamation to begin after the phrase “and he said” (rather than after “in Nineveh”), as do quotations in 1:14; 2:2, 4; 4:2, 8, 9. In Jonah where the quotation does not begin immediately after “said” (אָמַר, ’amar), it is only the speaker or addressee or both that come between “said” and the start of the quotation (1:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; 4:4, 9, 10; cf. 1:1; 3:1).