A Handbook on the Book of Jonah (UBS Handbook Series)
The book of Jonah contains one of the best-known stories in the Old Testament. Many people know of only one incident in the book—the fish swallowing Jonah—especially since that incident is singled out in the teaching of Jesus and reproduced in traditional Christian art.
But the reference in Matthew to Jonah’s three-day stay in the big fish is immediately followed by a reminder that the people of Nineveh repented when they heard Jonah’s message (Matt 12.40,41). The message of the book may be summed up as “What is likely to happen when people repent.” Two things happen, according to this book. In the first place, God responded to the repentance of the people of Nineveh by changing his mind and sparing them. In the second place, Jonah, who at first had been unwilling to give them an opportunity for repentance and had only preached to them because he was forced to, was highly annoyed.
So here among the “Minor Prophets” is a book about a prophet and his reaction to those who listened to him. It differs from all the other books in this section of the Old Testament, which contain God’s word to Israel and the nations through his prophets. Instead this book contains God’s word to a prophet through other people, all of whom are non-Israelites, but who are able to teach him something that he did not fully appreciate before about the God of Israel, who is “a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind,” even to those least deserving of his grace, and even to a stubborn prophet.
- Exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the original text
- Verse-by-verse guides
- An essential tool for Bible translators
Top Highlights
“The message of the book may be summed up as ‘What is likely to happen when people repent.’ Two things happen, according to this book. In the first place, God responded to the repentance of the people of Nineveh by changing his mind and sparing them. In the second place, Jonah, who at first had been unwilling to give them an opportunity for repentance and had only preached to them because he was forced to, was highly annoyed.” (Page 45)
“The prayer is described as coming from deep in the world of the dead, or ‘out of the belly of Sheol’ (neb). In other words the worshiper is pictured as having ‘one foot in the grave,’ to use an English idiom, or in ‘the jaws of death,’ as Luther expresses it.” (Page 77)
“There are no moral distinctions there, so ‘hell’ (kjv) is not a suitable translation, since that suggests a contrast with ‘heaven’ as the dwelling-place of the righteous after death. In a sense, ‘the grave’ in a generic sense is a near equivalent, except that Sheol is more a mass grave in which all the dead dwell together.” (Page 77)
“This verse marks a turning-point in the book, as Jonah himself now prays” (Page 76)
“The word occurs often in the Psalms and the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go” (Page 77)
What if you were responsible for translating God's Word into a language that never had a Bible before? Can you imagine the burden you would feel to do a good job?
God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible.
This challenge to understand the heart of the original Scriptures, in order to put the original text into a new language, was the impetus for the United Bible Societies to create handbooks for Bible translators working on this very thing. The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series is a comprehensive verse-by-verse guide to understanding exactly what is being communicated by the author in the original Scriptures.
- Title: A Handbook on the Book of Jonah
- Authors: Brynmor F. Price, Eugene Nida
- Series: United Bible Societies’ Handbooks
- Publisher: United Bible Societies
- Print Publication Date: 1978
- Logos Release Date: 2004
- Pages: 267
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Jonah › Translating
- Resource ID: LLS:34.0.158
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T18:58:29Z