MS: וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו הַגִּידָה־נָּא לָנוּ בַּאֲשֶׁר לְמִי־הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת לָנוּ מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ וּמֵאַיִן תָּבוֹא מָה אַרְצֶךָ וְאֵי־מִזֶּה עַם אָתָּה
LXX: Καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπάγγειλον ἡμῖν τίς σου ἡ ἐργασία ἐστὶ καὶ πόθεν ἔρχῃ καὶ ἐκ ποίας χώρας, καὶ ἐκ ποίου λαοῦ εἶ σύ
TJ: וַאֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ חַוֵי כְעַן לָנָא בְּדִיל מָה בִישְׁתָּא הָדָא לָנָא מָה עֲבִידְתָּךְ וּמְנָן אַתְּ אָתֵי אֵי דָא הִיא מְדִינְתָךְ וְאֵי מִדֵין עַמָא אַתְּ
Verse Breakdown
MS: וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו הַגִּידָה־נָּא לָנוּ בַּאֲשֶׁר לְמִי־הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת לָנוּ LXX: Καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπάγγειλον ἡμῖν TJ: וַאֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ חַוֵי כְעַן לָנָא בְּדִיל מָה בִישְׁתָּא הָדָא לָנָא
MS: vayomru ‘elaiv hagidah-na’ lanu ba’asher lemi-hara`ah hazo’t lanu LXX: kai eipon pros auton apengeilon hemin TJ: va’amaru leyh khavey ce`an lana’ bedil mah vishta’ hada’ lana’
MS: And they said to him, ‘tell, please, to us, in this to who (because of who) the evil, this, is to us?’ LXX: And said to him, ‘tell us,’ TJ: And they said to him, ‘show now to us, because of what, evil this is to us’
MS: מַה־מְּלַאכְתְּךָ וּמֵאַיִן תָּבוֹא מָה אַרְצֶךָ וְאֵי־מִזֶּה עַם אָתָּה LXX: τίς σου ἡ ἐργασία ἐστὶ καὶ πόθεν ἔρχῃ καὶ ἐκ ποίας χώρας καὶ ἐκ ποίου λαοῦ εἶ σύ TJ: מָה עֲבִידְתָּךְ וּמְנָן אַתְּ אָתֵי אֵי דָא הִיא מְדִינְתָךְ וְאֵי מִדֵין עַמָא אַתְּ
MS: mah-mela’ctekha ume’ayin tavo’ ma ‘artsekha ve’ey-mizeh `am ‘atah LXX: tis sou he ergasia esti kai pothen erkhei kai ek toias khoras kai ek poiou laou ei su TJ: mah `avidtakh umnan ‘at ‘atey ‘ey da’ hi’ mdintakh v’ey miden `ama’ ‘at
MS: What is your calling and from where did you come? What is your land and which from this people are you? LXX: What your work is, and where coming from, and from what people, and from which people are you? TJ: What is your service, and from where do you come? Which of these are your state, and which of these people you are?
Critical Reconstruction
Shortest Construction:
And said to him, ‘tell us, what is your calling and from where did you come? What is your land and which from this people are you?’
Longest Construction:
And they said to him, ‘tell, please, to us, because of who the evil, this, is to us? What is your service, and from where do you come? Which of these are your state, and which of these people you are?’
Overview:
This verse has two significant shifts across traditions. The first comes from an LXX omission, and the second from a TJ shift in wording. First, the LXX entirely omits the phrase, “because of who, this evil is to us,” and instead goes straight from “and said to him, ‘tell us.’” Based on the lectio difficilior potior, or choosing the more difficult reading, the LXX phrasing may be closer to the original Jonah. However, it is not cleanly decided. When a scribal change happens, it is usually to explain or smooth something over in the text. The omission of the phrase in LXX seems to be a more difficult reading, as the explanative note is removed. There is seemingly little motivation to make this removal, while there is motivation to summarize the motives of the sailors and add in the phrase, “because of who, this evil is to us.” The addition, then, is exactly that: a summative note on the sailors’ intentions to discover on whose account this evil has come.
The second change is a shift in the wording used by TJ. The Hebrew “‘artsekha,” your land, is translated into Aramaic as “mdintakh,” your state. The noun “erets” is used abundantly throughout the Old Testament, and is the default word for the physical land, usually also associated with the physical location of a nation. The noun “medinah” is used throughout Old Testament Hebrew, specifically during the later Persian period, in books such as Ezra/Nehemiah, Esther, Ezekiel, and Daniel, to mean state or sub-divided nation. While “erets” is a general word for earth used to indicate a nation, tribe, or other division, “medinah” is more often used as a kind of sub-divide under larger a global power. This is an interesting wording shift, which does change the nature of the question by the sailors, but is ultimately inconsequential to the text.
Carefully Think It Through
The next way we can approach a text well is by carefully thinking through the five investigative questions we looked at in the previous verse. The sailors investigate and think through for themselves as they ask Jonah a series of four or five questions. They want to know why this evil has fallen on them, so they attempt to understand where this strange man has brought the curse of the storm from. As we seek to think through the text, one of the best ways to do so is to put ourselves in the shoes of the different characters.
What would it be like to be one of the sailors? Imagine, you are having a regular day at the boat yard when a passenger arrives. He has mysterious business in Tarshish. He seems to be running from something, but what? Everything seems normal at first, until you are far into your sailing on the Mediterranean Sea, when a dangerous storm erupts in the sea. Unsure of what to do, you and your co-sailors cry out to your gods. Nothing works. But somehow, the strange passenger sleeps soundly below the deck, even upon crashing waves. You think to yourself, “who is this man?” You awake him and cry out, “what are you doing! Cry out to your god that we may live!” But nothing seems to work. You throw stones to determine the will of the gods. Your stomach sinks. The gods have pointed to your strange passenger. He is the root of this storm. You can’t help but cry out, “What is happening!” This is the situation the sailors are in. But let us turn to the other side. What would it be like to be Jonah?
You grow up in Israel, a nation divided and damaged by paganism. World war looms as world powers Egypt and Assyria sit on either side of your small country, rumors carried in by merchants on trade routes that run through Israel. Eventually you find yourself standing up to the evil in your nation, ordained by God as a prophet, His mouthpiece to His people. His judgment will fall on idolatry and wickedness. But one day He tells you to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to warn them of God’s coming judgment. So you run from God, that maybe His judgment would fall on them. You board a boat, doing anything you can to escape. Once you are on the waters, you lie down for a worried sleep. But suddenly, you are awoken in the night, a dangerous storm throwing the boat. The sailors suspect this is your fault. They tell you to cry out to your God, but how can you? He has already spoken. You know He has found you. The sailors seek their gods through throwing stones to find out who has done wrong. Your stomach sinks. As if you needed someone to tell you, the stones point to you. God has searched for His runaway, and has found you out.
Do you feel the emotions, now? Do you see the tension? Reading a single verse such as this one can almost seem boring. “Okay, so the sailors ask who Jonah is. That’s cool, I guess.” But when we read the story thoughtfully, placing ourselves in the shoes of the characters, we begin to really understand what is as stake.
