MS: וַיִּירְאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים יִרְאָה גְדוֹלָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו מַה־זֹּאת עָשִׂיתָ כִּי־יָדְעוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים כִּי־מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה הוּא בֹרֵחַ כִּי הִגִּיד לָהֶם
LXX: Καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ἄνδρες φόβον μέγαν καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτὸν τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας διότι ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄνδρες ὅτι ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου ἦν φεύγων ὅτι ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς
TJ: וּדְחִילוּ גַבְרַיָא דְחִילָא רַבָּא וַאֲמָרוּ לֵיהּ מַה דָא עַבַדְתָּא אֲרֵי יְדָעוּ גוּבְרַיָא אֲרֵי מִן קֳדָם יְיָ הוּא עָרֵיק אֲרֵי חַוֵי לְהוֹן
Verse Breakdown
MS: וַיִּירְאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים יִרְאָה גְדוֹלָה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו מַה־זֹּאת עָשִׂיתָ LXX: Καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ἄνδρες φόβον μέγαν καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτὸν τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας TJ: וּדְחִילוּ גַבְרַיָא דְחִילָא רַבָּא וַאֲמָרוּ לֵיהּ מַה דָא עַבַדְתָּא
MS:
MS: And were afraid, the men, afraid greatly, and they said to him, what is this you have done? LXX: And were afraid, the men, afraid greatly, and said to him, what is this you have done? TJ: And feared, the men, feared greatly, and they said to him, what is this you have done?
MS: כִּי־יָדְעוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים כִּי־מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה הוּא בֹרֵחַ כִּי הִגִּיד לָהֶם LXX: διότι ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄνδρες ὅτι ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου ἦν φεύγων ὅτι ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς TJ: אֲרֵי יְדָעוּ גוּבְרַיָא אֲרֵי מִן קֳדָם יְיָ הוּא עָרֵיק אֲרֵי חַוֵי לְהוֹן
MS:
MS: For knew, the men, that from the face of the Lord he ran, for he told them LXX: For knew, the men, that from the face of the Lord he had ran, for he announced it to them TJ: For knew, the men, that from the presence of the Lord he fled, for he told them
Critical Reconstruction
Shortest Construction:
“And feared, the men, feared greatly, and they said to him, what is this you have done? For knew, the men, that from the face of the Lord he ran, for he told them.”
Longest construction:
“And were afraid, the men, afraid greatly, and they said to him, what is this you have done? For knew, the men, that from the presence of the Lord he had ran, for he announced it to them.”
Overview:
This verses shows only one difference across traditions. This is surprising, as LXX is known to de-personify God, so the “face of the Lord” is somewhat interesting, but is a direct and clean translation of the MS. The change comes from TJ, which replaces the “face of the Lord,” as in MS and LXX, with the “presence of the Lord.” This is a simple explanative change, as the “face of the Lord” refers to his presence. There are no other changes.
LBTB: Read Patiently
When reading a verse of passage of the Bible, the easiest route is to read it once, study background, figure out what it means, and be done. However, it is a great practice to read a passage with patience. In the last verse we learned about reading a verse over and over from different perspectives, but part of that is reading a verse without rushing through. I once heard of an ancient practice of reading a verse word by word, meditating on each word. This is the practice of reading the verse slowly and patiently. Let us try.
And – recall back all that the sailors, Jonah, and God have done so far. The emotions, the struggle.
Were afraid – this is a passive action. The fear is happening to the men. How will they respond? How should they have responded?
The men – Remember who these people are. These are fearless sailors of a treacherous Mediterranean Sea. They know their way around dangerous waters, and yet here they are deeply troubled. Why is that?
Afraid greatly – Why does the author repeat this? The sailors were not only afraid, but greatly afraid. This was no small issue. They were filled with dread. How could God turn this for good?
And they said – Notice, the sailors act in one accord here. They are united in their fear, and united in finding a solution.
To him – Who would you expect a pagan sailor to cry out to? They cried out to their gods, but all they could get was that Jonah was responsible. So they cry out to him. How could this storm be fixed?
What is this – The sailors cry out in desperation. They do not jump to conclusions about sin. They desperately need to know what Jonah has done to upset his God.
You – They correctly identify Jonah as the source of this storm. How did he get in the middle of it?
Have done – They also correctly identify Jonah has actively done something.
For knew – Here is an important explanation of how they knew to ask these questions.
The men – Everyone knew, because Jonah told them. What courage that would take from Jonah to admit this deadly storm was his fault, to a band of sailors.
That from – This did not come from going toward sin, or toward another god, but simply came from going away from the true God.
The face – God here has a face. What is that face like? How does Jonah run from the face of God, as opposed to the presence of God?
Of the Lord – This did not come from any involvement with pagan deities, but came from the jealous love of God alone.
He had ran – He did not only run in a spiritual sense, but also in a literal sense, sailing away on a boat.
For he announced it – The courage it must have taken to admit this great sin in front of a bunch of stranger.
To them – Again, he explained to all of them, not only the captain, but everyone.
This method of slowing down, reading the verse patiently, takes discipline. It can seem boring or redundant when you start out. However, it is a fruitful method for consciously meditating on each word or phrase of Scripture, to understand and apply to your heart all that you are reading.
