Jonah 1:3

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Jonah	יוֹנָה֙ yo.Nah	H3124	Jonah · proper noun, a man's name
up	וַיָּ֤קָם vai.Ya.kom	H6965	to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
flee	לִבְרֹ֣חַ liv.Ro.ach	H1272	to bolt · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Tarshish	תַּרְשִׁ֔ישָׁה tar.Shi.shah	H8659	Tarshish · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
presence	מִלִּפְנֵ֖י mi.lif.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD	יְהוָ֑ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
down	וַיֵּ֨רֶד vai.Ye.red	H3381	to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Joppa	יָפ֜וֹ ya.Fo	H3305	Japho · proper noun, a place name
found	וַיִּמְצָ֥א vai.yim.Tza'	H4672	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ship	אָנִיָּ֣ה 'a.ni.Yah	H591	a ship · noun, common feminine singular absolute
going	בָּאָ֣ה ba.'Ah	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
Tarshish	תַרְשִׁ֗ישׁ tar.Shish	H8659	Tarshish · proper noun, a place name
paid	וַיִּתֵּ֨ן vai.yi.Ten	H5414	to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fare	שְׂכָרָ֜הּ se.kha.Rah	H7939	payment of contract · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
down	וַיֵּ֤רֶד vai.Ye.red	H3381	to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
go	לָב֤וֹא la.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Tarshish	תַּרְשִׁ֔ישָׁה tar.Shi.shah	H8659	Tarshish · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
presence	מִלִּפְנֵ֖י mi.lif.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title

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

Psalms 139:7-12 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Joshua 19:46 And Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border before Japho.
Genesis 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Acts 9:36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alm…
Acts 9:43 And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
1 Kings 19:3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
Isaiah 23:1 The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jonah 1:1-3

Observe, 1. The honour God put upon Jonah, in giving him a commission to go and prophesy against Nineveh. Jonah signifies a dove, a proper name for all God's prophets, all his people, who ought to be harmless as doves, and to mourn as doves for the sins and calamities of the land. His father's name was Amittai - My truth; for God's prophets should be sons of truth. To him the word of the Lord came - to him it was (so the word signifies), for God's word is a real thing; men's words are but wind, but God's words are substance. He has been before acquainted with the word of the Lord, and knew his voice from that of a stranger; the orders now given him were, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jonah 1:3

flee--Jonah's motive for flight is hinted at in : fear that after venturing on such a dangerous commission to so powerful a heathen city, his prophetical threats should be set aside by God's "repenting of the evil," just as God had so long spared Israel notwithstanding so many provocations, and so he should seem a false prophet. Besides, he may have felt it beneath him to discharge a commission to a foreign idolatrous nation, whose destruction he desired rather than their repentance. This is the only case of a prophet, charged with a prophetical message, concealing it. from the presence of the Lord--(Compare ). Jonah thought in fleeing from the land of Israel, where Jehovah was peculiarly…

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Adam Clarke on Jonah 1:3

To flee unto Tarshish - Some say Tartessus, in Spain, near the straits of Gibraltar, others, Tarsus, in Cilicia; and others, Taprobana, or the island of Ceylon, formerly called Taprobah; and Tabrobavagh in Sanscrit, to the present day. And went down to Joppa - This place is celebrated as that where Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus, was chained to a rock, and exposed to be devoured by a sea-monster, from which she was delivered by the valor of Perseus. It is the nearest port to Jerusalem on that side of the Mediterranean. And he found a ship - The Phoenicians carried on a considerable trade with Tartessus, Eze 27:12; and it was probably in one of their ships that Jonah embarked. He paid the far…

The Church Fathers

Jonah, therefore, coming from the mountainous country of Judea to the sea coast and the plains, is rightly said to have went down.
— Haimo of Auxerre,

In Hebrew, however, they speak generally of the sea as "Tharsis." Therefore, the prophet did not wish to flee to any particular place, but he embarked upon a ship which could take him anywhere, so long as he could hurry, not caring where chance led him.
— Haimo of Auxerre,

And concerning Jonah it is also written, "He feared before the Lord and fled to Joppa." For although his fear was born of simplicity, yet like a man who feared God he fled in order that he might not draw nigh to the work which he thought was too hard for his strength.
— Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 7 -- Second Discourse on the Fear of God

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Japho — Beauty, a sea-port in Dan (Josh. 19:46); called Joppa (q.v.) in 2 Chr. 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Jonah 1:3; and in New Testament.
Joppa — Beauty, a town in the portion of Dan (Josh. 19:46; A.V., “Japho”), on a sandy promontory between Caesarea and Gaza, and at a distance of 30 miles north-west from Jerusalem. It is one of the oldest…
Tarshish — A Sanscrit or Aryan word, meaning “the sea coast.” (1.) One of the “sons” of Javan (Gen. 10:4; 1 Chr. 1:7). (2.) The name of a place which first comes into notice in the days of Solomon. The question…
Backsliders · .Jonah — .Jonah
Disobedience To God · Exemplified: Jonah — Exemplified: Jonah
Jonah · Di — Di
Joppa · Passenger traffic from — Passenger traffic from
Missionary Work By Ministers · Guilt and danger of shrinking from — Guilt and danger of shrinking from
Ship · .With Tarshish — .With Tarshish
Ships · Employed in: Carrying passengers — Employed in: Carrying passengers
Tarshish · .Jonah would flee to — .Jonah would flee to

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).

Jonah 1:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jonah 1:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jonah 1:3

Adam Clarke on Jonah 1:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Jonah 1:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jonah 1:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jonah 1:3

Adam Clarke on Jonah 1:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Jonah 1:3

John Calvin on Jonah 1:3

Keil & Delitzsch on Jonah 1:3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jonah 1:3

Rashi on Jonah 1:3