Discovery BoxJonah 3:6
Context3:6 When the news 1 reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.
Jonah 4:5
Context4:5 Jonah left the city and sat down east 2 of it. 3 He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. 4
Jonah 4:8
Context4:8 When the sun began to shine, God sent 5 a hot 6 east wind. So the sun beat down 7 on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, 8 and said, “I would rather die than live!” 9
[3:6] 1 tn Heb “word” or “matter.”
[4:5] 2 tn Heb “from the east” or “from the front.” When used to designate a location, the noun קֶדֶם (qedem) may mean “front” (BDB 869 s.v. קֶדֶם 1.a) or “east” (BDB 869 s.v. 1.b). The construction קֶדֶם + preposition מִן (min, “from”) means “from the front” = “in front of” (Job 23:8; Ps 139:5; Isa 9:11) or “from the east” = “eastward, on the east side” (Gen 3:21; 12:8; Num 34:11; Josh 7:2; Ezek 11:23). Because the morning sunrise beat down upon Jonah (v. 8) and because the main city gate of Nineveh opened to the east, the term probably means “on the east side” of the city. But “in front of” the city would mean the same in this case.
[4:5] 3 tn Heb “of the city.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the noun “city” has been replaced here by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation.
[4:5] 4 sn Apparently Jonah hoped that he might have persuaded the
[4:8] 3 tn Or “appointed.” See preceding note on v. 7.
[4:8] 4 tc The MT adjective חֲרִישִׁית (kharishit, “autumnal”) is a hapax legomenon with an unclear meaning (BDB 362 s.v. חֲרִישִׁי); therefore, the BHS editors propose a conjectural emendation to the adjective חֲרִיפִית (kharifit, “autumnal”) from the noun חֹרֶף (khoref, “autumn”; see BDB 358 s.v. חרֶף). However, this emendation would also create a hapax legomenon and it would be no more clear than relating the MT’s חֲרִישִׁית to I חָרַשׁ (kharash, “to plough” [in autumn harvest]).
[4:8] 5 tn Heb “attacked” or “smote.”
