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LXX Jonah

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 2

1 Now the Lord had commanded a great sea monster to swallow up Jonah: and Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster three days and three nights. 2 And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the sea monster,⁠ 3 and said, I cried in my affliction to the Lord my God, and he listened to me, even to my cry out of the belly of hell: you heard my voice. 4 You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the floods surrounded me: all your billows and your waves have passed upon me. 5 And I said, I am cast out of your presence: shall I indeed look again toward your holy temple?⁠ 6 Water was poured around me to the soul: the lowest deep surrounded me, my head went down to the clefts of the mountains; 7 I went down into the earth, whose bars are the everlasting barriers: yet, Lord my God, let my ruined life rise up.⁠ 8 When my soul was failing me, I remembered the Lord; and may my prayer come to you into your holy temple. 9 They that observe vanities and lies have forsaken their own mercy.⁠ 10 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of praise and thanksgiving: all that I have vowed I will pay to you, the Lord of my salvation.⁠ 11 And the sea monster was commanded, and it cast up Jonah on the dry land.

Texts in conversation

Compare Jonah 2:4 and LXX Jonah 2:5

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Jonah uses ambiguous language about the temple, which could be despair or confident resolve. The Greek Septuagint translators interpreted it as an anxious question, so Jonah does not know if he will see the sanctuary again.

Passages

Jonah 2:4

Hebrew Bible
3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me. 4 I thought I had been banished from your sight and that I would never again see your holy temple. 5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonah

LXX Jonah 2:5

Septuagint
4 You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the floods surrounded me: all your billows and your waves have passed upon me. 5 And I said, I am cast out of your presence: shall I indeed look again toward your holy temple? 6 Water was poured around me to the soul: the lowest deep surrounded me, my head went down to the clefts of the mountains;
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Jonah

References

“... The verset ʾak ʾōsîp lehabbîṭ ʾel-hêkal qodšekā begins with one of the most contested readings in Jonah. The particle ʾak normally functions in three different ways: temporal (“just as, no sooner”), emphatic/asseverative (“truly, surely”), and restrictive/adversative (“nevertheless, for all that”); see BDB 36. The last two modes are not often mutually compatible, and there are cases in which the choice depends on individual judgment. (The two possibilities are discussed by Muraoka [1985: 130], who also gives a relevant bibliography.) In Jonah’s case, readers choose a meaning to accord with the way they empathize with Jonah’s circumstances. Having just acknowledged his hopeless situation, is Jonah (or the poet) meekly begging God to permit him to achieve that goal (“Truly, I want to continue gazing upon your holy sanctuary”)? Or is he defiantly stating his resolve to seek God’s shrine (“Nevertheless, I continue to gaze upon your holy sanctuary”)? The Renaissance rabbi Sforno is closer to the first interpretation, rendering, “I ask only that I be permitted to gaze upon your holy temple”; quoted in Zlotowitz 1980: 112. The Targum sides with the latter interpretation, using the adversative brm, “nevertheless,” and so does the Septuagint (followed by Arabic) when it frames the sentence as a rhetorical question: “Do you think that I may yet see your holy temple?” ...”
Jack M. Sasson, Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretation (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 179.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jonah 2:4 and LXX Jonah 2:5

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