to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
do
נַּ֣עֲשֶׂהNa.'a.seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
sea
הַיָּ֖םhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
calm
וְיִשְׁתֹּ֥קve.yish.Tok
H8367
to subside · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
sea
הַיָּ֖םhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wrought
הוֹלֵ֥ךְho.Lekh
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
tempestuous
וְסֹעֵֽרve.so.'Er
H5590
to rush upon · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 6:2-3 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall sen…
2 Samuel 21:1-6 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for…
Micah 6:6-7 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a y…
2 Samuel 24:11-13 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jonah 1:11–end
It is plain that Jonah is the man for whose sake this evil is upon them, but the discovery of him to be so was not sufficient to answer the demands of this tempest; they had found him out, but something more was to be done, for still the sea wrought and was tempestuous (Jon 1:11), and again (Jon 1:13), it grew more and more tempestuous (so the margin reads it); for if we discover sin to be the cause of our troubles, and do not forsake it, we do but make bad worse. Therefore they went on with the prosecution.
I. They enquired of Jonah himself what he thought they must do with him (Jon 1:11): What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm to us? They perceived that Jonah is a prophet of…
What shall we do unto thee?--They ask this, as Jonah himself must best know how his God is to be appeased. "We would gladly save thee, if we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves" ().
Adam Clarke on Jonah 1:11
What shall we do unto thee - In these poor men there was an uncommon degree of humanity and tender feeling.
John Gill on Jonah 1:11
Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee,.... Though, both by the lot and his own confession, they knew he was the guilty person; for whose sake this storm was; yet were unwilling to do anything to him without his will and consent, his counsel and advice; perceiving that he was a prophet of the God of the Hebrews, whom he had offended, and knew the mind and will of his God, and the nature of his offence against him, and what only would appease him they desire him to tell what they ought to do; fearing that, though they had found out the man, they should make a mistake in their manner of dealing with him, and so continue the distress they were in, or increase it; their great concer…
Jonah surely teaches us that the sea and stars are moved under God's control. By vainly seeking to flee from God the controller of all things whom none can escape, he aroused the anger of both sky and sea. Nature, which belongs to the almighty Lord, realized that [Jonah] was revolting, and it was afraid to play conspirator by transporting the guilty man safely through its domain; it chained the runaway with winds and waves.
Tell me, are you running away from the master? Then wait a little bit and you will learn from the state of affairs themselves that you will be unable to escape even from the hands of his servant, the ocean. For as soon as Jonah set foot on the ship, the ocean raised its waves up high and raised itself to a great height. And just as a considerate handmaid, discovering that her fellow slave has run away because he stole something of her master's, does not revolt as previously mentioned but submits the individuals who captured him to myriads of troubles until she seizes him and brings him back, likewise, the ocean found her fellow slave and recognized him.
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto you, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous." LXX: 'then they said to him, what should we do with you, so that the sea is calm for us? For the sea was surging its waves more and more'. It is because of you, you say, that the winds, the waves, the sea and swells have been unleashed. You have revealed the cause of this wickedness, now tell us how to stop it. The sea swells against us, and we know that a God is angry because we took you on board. If we have sinned by taking you in, then what can we do so that the Lord does not become angrier? "What should we do with you?" that is to say: "shall we kill you?" but you are faithful to the Lord. Are we to protect you? But you flee from Him. All we have to do is carry out whatever you command, all you have to do is give the command that the sea be calm, for now its wildness attests the wrath of the creator. The narrator also adds the reason for this question. The sea, he says, was continually increasing in wildness. It was swelling, in the known way; it was swelling for the revenge of its Lord; it was swelling, following the fleeing prophet. And at every moment it was becoming more and more wild, and to the delaying sailors' eyes it rose in greater waves to show that it would not put off for long the creator's revenge.
Dictionary and topics
Jonah · Di — Di
Superstition · .The sailors who threw Jonah into the sea — .The sailors who threw Jonah into the sea
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Jonah 1:11-12
Jonah 1:11-12
11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
11. Et dixerunt ad eum, Quid faciemus tibi ut resideat mare a nobis? Quia mare ibat (id est, commovebatur,) et erat tempestuosum.
12. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
12. Et dixit illis, Tollite me, et projicite me in mare, et residebit mare a vobis; quia novi ego, quod propter me tempestas magna haec contingerit super vos (hoc est, sit super vos.)
The sailors asked counsel of Jonah; and hence it appears that they w…
Fearing as they did in the storm the wrath of God on account of Jonah's sin, they now asked what they should do, that the storm might abate, "for the sea continued to rage." שׁתק, to set itself, to come to a state of repose; or with מעל, to desist from a person. הולך, as in Gen 8:5, etc., expressive of the continuance of an action. With their fear of the Almighty God, whom Jonah worshipped, they did not dare to inflict a punishment upon the prophet, simply according to their own judgment. As a worshipper of Jehovah, he should pronounce his own sentence, or let it be pronounced by his God. Jonah replies in Jon 1:12, "Cast me into the sea; for I know that for my sake this great storm is (come)…
a Hebrew: See also Gen 41:12; Exod 1:15; 2:11. • Jonah worshiped the Lord, who in contrast to the sailors’ false gods made the sea and the land, and thus controlled them. Many gods were believed to have jurisdiction over specific realms and functions. The designation God of heaven likely conveyed the superiority of that deity over all others, as heaven is the highest realm. The Old Testament consistently proclaims that the Lord alone is the one true God (see, e.g., Deut 6:4), while at times adopting language that reflects his superiority to the false gods that occupied the imaginations of pagan peoples (see Ps 95:3-5).
Rashi on Jonah 1:10
“What is this that you have done?”—Why have you done this, to flee from before such a Ruler?
