Texts in Conversation
In the Hebrew version of Jonah, the prophet lies down in the ship’s hold and falls asleep during the deadly storm. The Greek Septuagint adds that he snored, heightening the irony of Jonah sleeping soundly while the terrified sailors struggle to survive.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jonah 1:5
Hebrew Bible
4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! 5 The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. 6 The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!”
LXX Jonah 1:5
Septuagint
4 But the Lord raised up a wind upon the sea, and a great wave came upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of being shattered. 5 And the seamen were afraid and cried out, each to his god. And they threw out the things that were in the ship into the sea in order to lighten it for them. But Jonah went down into the hold of the ship and slept and snored. 6 And the captain came to him and said to him, “How are you snoring? Rise up, and call upon your God so that God might deliver us and we might not be destroyed.”
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Notes and References
... wayyiskab wayyeradam. According to the Septuagint, once he witnessed the storm Jonah went down to the ship’s bowel, lay down to sleep, and promptly began to snore (kai eregche [erregchen]; so also [Pseudo]-Philo: König 1906: 745). Harmonizing the two readings by reconstructing a plausible common text for both is unnecessary, for the Septuagint is simply introducing humor that will sharpen when the helmsman frantically turns to Jonah for help. In his oration on Jonah, Philo depends on the Septuagint but regards snoring as a plot device to bring Jonah to the helmsman’s attention (cited in König 1906: 745a). Josephus (Antiquities 9.10.2) expands by stating that “Jonah lay still and covered, without imitating anything that the others did.” The church fathers commented on this act as betraying evil conscience and deep remorse (compare Keil and Delitzsch 1900: 393–94). The Hebrew vocabulary for Jonah’s act, however, is less jocose than the Septuagint’s ...
Sasson, Jack M.
Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretation
(p. 101) Doubleday, 1990
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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