UTN uW Translation Notes:

Jonah 3 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

This chapter returns to the narrative about Jonah.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Animals

According to the king’s proclamation, the animals had to participate in the fast which he had ordered. This was unusual and probably indicates that the king wanted God to see that all of Nineveh was taking his proclamation of destruction very seriously. There is nothing in the law of Moses that instructed the people to have their animals participate in fasting. (See: lawofmoses)

God Repenting or Relenting

The last verse of this chapter says, “So then God relented in regard to the evil that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” This concept of God changing His mind may seem inconsistent with the fact that God’s character and his plans do not change.However, God's actions of punishment or mercy depend on human actions. God often changes his action from punishment to mercy in response to humans who repent of their sins, because he prefers to be merciful. Because the Ninevites repented, God did not follow through with the judgment that he told Jonah to proclaim, and Jonah described that in a human way as “relenting” or as some versions say, “changing his mind.” The reader understands that this was God’s plan from the beginning.

God Planning Evil

The Hebrew word translated as “evil” in the ULT is very broad, including moral evil, physical evil, and everything that is bad. So in verse 10, the author uses the same word for God's planned destruction of Nineveh as he used for the people's wicked behavior. The ULT translates each of these uses as “evil” to show the user that it is the same Hebrew word in each place. By using the same word, the author is showing that when people repent of moral evil, God relents from doing physical evil (punishment). God never does moral evil. If your language would not use the same word for both of these, you will want to use different words for them.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Size of Nineveh

The ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh that have been uncovered are about 8 miles or 13 kilometers around. So, although Nineveh was a very big city in the ancient world, it was not as big as most modern cities. The description of Nineveh as “a journey of three days” seems to mean that it took three days to walk through it, although that seems to be more time than would be needed to walk through a city of that size. Of course, it depends on several factors: what a person is doing while on this journey through the city, and that there may have been extensive settlements outside the city walls. Also, the length of time given is probably only a general approximation. Translators should simply translate the text and not try to reconcile it with what modern archeologists think that they know about ancient Nineveh and the people who walked through it.

A City Great to God

Verse three in the ULT describes Nineveh as “a city great to God.” In Hebrew, saying that something is “to God” or “of God” is an idiom that means that it is an extreme example of that thing. For example, in Genesis 30:8, Rachel describes the struggle she has had with her sister as “a struggle of God,” meaning “a mighty struggle” or “an extremely difficult struggle.” Other examples of this idiom in the Bible are found in Genesis 23:6, Exodus 9:28, 1 Samuel 14:15, Psalms 36:6, and Psalms 80:10. In Jonah 3:3, this idiom probably means that Nineveh was an extremely large city. See how this is translated in the Bible that is most commonly used in your area. You may want to follow how they translated this idiom.