208 Having promised to transmit on an accurate [account] of events, I have thought it necessary, however, to relate as well whatever I found recorded in the Hebrew books concerning this prophet.⁷⁶⁶ (Jonah 1:1)For he was directed by God⁷⁶⁷ to go to the kingdom of Ninuos,⁷⁶⁸ (Jonah 1:2) and once there to proclaim in the city that it would lose its rule.⁷⁶⁹ Being frightened,⁷⁷⁰ however, he did not go off [there], (Jonah 1:3) but ran away from God⁷⁷¹ to the city of Iope.⁷⁷² Finding a boat and embarking,⁷⁷³ he sailed for Tarsos^{774 30} in Cilicia.⁷⁷⁵

209 (Jonah 1:4) Now a very severe storm arose and the vessel was in danger of sinking.⁷⁷⁶ (Jonah 1:5) The sailors, the pilots, and even the ship owner⁷⁷⁷ made vows of thank-offerings, should they escape the sea.⁷⁷⁸ Jonas, on the other hand, wrapped himself up and kept to himself, not imitating what he saw the others doing.⁷⁷⁹

210 (Jonah 1:7)When the waves increased still more and the sea was made even more violent by the winds,⁷⁸⁰ they [the sailors] surmised—as was natural—that one of those sailing with them was the cause of the storm and resolved to learn who this might be by means of the lot.^{781 31} 

211 When therefore the prophet was taken by their lot-casting,⁷⁸² (Jonah 1:8) they inquired where he was from and what his occupation was.⁷⁸³ (Jonah 1:9) He said that he was a Hebrew by race⁷⁸⁴ and a prophet of the greatest God.⁷⁸⁵ (Jonah 1:12) He therefore advised them, if they wished to elude the present danger, to eject him into the open sea, for he was the cause of the storm.⁷⁸⁶

212 At first, they did not dare to do this, judging it an impiety for them to cast out to certain loss a man who was a stranger and who had entrusted his life to them.⁷⁸⁷ (Jonah 1:13b, 15)Finally, however, with calamity pressing heavily upon them and with the vessel on the verge of going under, being urged on as well by the prophet and being fearful for their own safety, they cast him into the sea.⁷⁸⁸

213 The storm subsided.⁷⁸⁹ The story, however, has it⁷⁹⁰ that [Jonas], (Jonah 2:1) having been swallowed up by a whale for three days and as many nights,⁷⁹¹ was spit out⁷⁹² (Jonah 2:11) on [the shore of] the Euxine Sea, alive and uninjured in body.⁷⁹³

214 From there, once he had prayed God to grant him pardon for his offenses,⁷⁹⁴ (Jonah 3:3) he went off to the city of Ninos.⁷⁹⁵ Standing where he could be heard,⁷⁹⁶ he proclaimed that, after a little [while], they would in a very short time⁷⁹⁷ (Jonah 3:4) forfeit their rule of Asia;⁷⁹⁸ having disclosed these things, he departed.⁷⁹⁹ I have related the account about him as I found it recorded.⁸⁰⁰

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⁷⁶⁶ By means of this notice Josephus makes the transition to the condensed version of the Book of Jonah (9.208-214) that he incorporates into his account of Jeroboam II (9.205-207, 215// 2 Kgs 14:23-29), inspired by the fact that the Kings passage itself mentions "Jonah" in 14:25. Whereas neither Kings nor the Book of Jonah ever applies the title "prophet" to Jonah, Josephus does so a total of 4 times in 9.208-214; cf. also his double mention of Jonah's "prophesying" in 9.206, 207.

⁷⁶⁷ This formulation replaces the stereotypical expression of Jonah 1:1: "the word of the Lord came to...."

⁷⁶⁸ MT (Jonah 1:1) נינוה (Eng.: " Nineveh"); LXX Νινευη; Josephus Νινύος (this is the reading of RO, which Niese follows; Marcus reads Νίνος with MSP). Josephus mentions the founding of " Ninos" by "Assouras" (Asshur) in Ant. 1.143 // Gen 10:11.

⁷⁶⁹ In Jonah 1:2a Jonah is instructed simply to "cry against" Nineveh; Josephus supplies a content for this "cry." Conversely, he leaves aside the motivation for God's sending Jonah to the city cited in 1:2b, i.e. "for their wickedness has come up before me."

⁷⁷⁰ Josephus supplies this reference to the emotional state that prompts Jonah's attempt to evade his commission.

⁷⁷¹ Josephus avoids the anthropomorphic reference to Jonah's fleeing the Lord's "face" of Jonah 1:3a α. The phrase "run away from God" (Greek: α᾿ποδιδράσκει τὸν θεόν) occurs also in War 3.373, where Josephus uses it in his address to his compatriots, urging them not to commit suicide.

⁷⁷² . MT (Jonah 1:3) יפו (Eng.: "Joppa"); LXX ᾿Ιώππη; Josephus ᾿Ιόπη.

⁷⁷³ Josephus omits the reference to Jonah's "paying his fare" and the 2nd mention of his going "away from the face of the Lord" of Jonah 1:3b.

⁷⁷⁴ MT (Jonah 1:3) תרשיש (Eng.: "Tarshish"); LXX Θαρσις; Josephus Τάρσος.

³⁰ When Jonah is said in our Bibles to have gone to Tarshish, Jonah 1:3, Josephus understood it that he went to Tarsus in Cilicia, or to the Mediterranean Sea, upon which Tarsus lay; so that he does not appear to have read the text, 1 Kings 22:48, as our copies do, that ships of Tarshish could lie at Ezion-geber, upon the Red Sea. But as to Josephus's assertion, that Jonah's fish was carried by the strength of the current, upon a storm, as far as the Euxine Sea: it is no way impossible. And since the storm might have driven the ship, while Jonah was in it, near to that Euxine Sea; and since in three more days, while he was in the fish's belly, that current might bring him to the Assyrian coast; and since withal that coast could bring him nearer to Nineveh than could any coast of the Mediterranean, it is by no means an improbable determination in Josephus.

775 Jonah 1:3 does not further identify "Tarshish"; Josephus makes the same linkage between " Tarsos" and " Cilicia" in War 7.238.

⁷⁷⁶ See Jonah 1:4. Josephus omits the biblical reference to the Lord's role in sending the storm.

⁷⁷⁷ Jonah 1:5 mentions only the sailors in general. The term ναύκληρος ("ship owner") is hapax in Josephus.

⁷⁷⁸ Jonah 1:5a α speaks more generally of "each man crying to his god." Josephus' wording may be inspired by Jonah 1:16, where, following the cessation of the storm, the sailors "offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows." Josephus leaves aside the reference (Jonah 1:5a β) to the sailors' casting the ship's cargo into the sea.

⁷⁷⁹ Josephus modifies the description of Jonah 1:5b, where the fugitive prophet descends into the inner part of the ship and there goes to sleep; in his presentation Jonah seems to remain on deck, but refrains from joining his shipmates' vow-making. Josephus omits the confrontation, recounted in Jonah 1:6, between Jonah and the ship's captain in the hull of the ship, in which Jonah is called on to "cry to his god" as the others are doing.

⁷⁸⁰ Anticipating the notice of Jonah 1:11b ("for the sea grew more and more tempestuous"), Josephus mentions this development at this point, so as to account for the sailors' recourse to a new expedient, i.e. the casting of the lot to identify the guilty party as recounted in Jonah 1:7a.

⁷⁸¹ See Jonah 1:7a. Josephus supplies the reference to the sailors' "surmise," which leads to their decision to use the lot.

³¹ This ancient piece of religion, of supposing there was great sin where there was great misery, and of casting lots to discover great sinners, not only among the Israelites, but among these heathen mariners, seems a remarkable remains of the ancient tradition which prevailed of old over all mankind, that Providence used to interpose visibly in all human affairs, and never to bring, or at least not long to continue, notorious judgments, but for notorious sins; which the most ancient Book of Job shows to have been the state of mankind for about the former three thousand years of the world, till the days of Job and Moses.

⁷⁸² . See Jonah 1:7b.

⁷⁸³ Of the 4 questions that the sailors address to Jonah in Jonah 1:8, Josephus passes over the 1st and 4th, i.e. those concerning the source of their affliction and his country, respectively.

⁷⁸⁴ In having Jonah call himself a "Hebrew," Josephus agrees with MT Jonah 1:9a, whereas in LXX he identifies himself as a "servant/slave [Greek: δοῦλος] of the Lord."

⁷⁸⁵ This is the same designation (Greek: προφήτης τοῦ μεγίστου θεοῦ) Josephus uses of Elijah in Ant. 8.319. It takes the place of Jonah's claim to be one who "fears the Lord" in Jonah 1:9b. Josephus omits the appended account of the crew's further questions to Jonah in 1:10-11a, as well as the reference to the worsening of the storm in 1:1lb (anticipated by him in 9.210).

⁷⁸⁶ See Jonah 1:12. In Josephus Jonah offers this advice on his own, whereas in Jonah 1:11-12 he does so in response to a question by the crew. Jonah's admission here about his being the "cause of the storm" confirms the crew's "surmise" on the matter as cited in 9.210.

⁷⁸⁷ This notice takes the place of the mention of the crew's "rowing hard towards land" as their first, implicitly negative response to Jonah's proposal (Jonah 1:12) in Jonah 1:13a. In reworking the biblical presentation here, Josephus likewise supplies a (positive) rationale for the crew's initial unreadiness to do as Jonah had suggested.

⁷⁸⁸ Josephus combines the notices of Jonah 1:13b (the storm prevents the sailors from making any headway) and 1:15a (their throwing Jonah into the sea), passing over their intervening appeal "to the Lord" in 1:14, in which they appear to become Jewish converts; see next note.

⁷⁸⁹ See Jonah 1:15b. Josephus omits the content of 1:16, where the crew responds to their delivery with "fear of the Lord," sacrifices, and vows, just as he left aside their earlier appeal to the Lord's mercy prior to their casting Jonah overboard (1:14). In both instances, sensitivity to Roman concerns over the issue of Jewish "proselytizing" appears to be operative; see Feldman 1998a: 409-10.

⁷⁹⁰ Greek: λόγος. With this formula Jonah invites his readers to make up their own minds about the following "fish story." Feldman (1998a: 403) points out that Herodotus (1.24) uses a similar formula ("they say [ λέγουι]") in introducing the mythological tale of Arion who, having been thrown overboard, is rescued by a dolphin.

⁷⁹¹ See Jonah 2:1 (Eng. 1:17). As in the case of the storm (see 9.209), Josephus omits the biblical reference to God's role in the fish's swallowing Jonah. He reserves to a later point his version of the thanksgiving psalm that Jonah pronounced during his time in the fish according to Jonah 2:2-10 (Eng. 2:1-9); see 9.214.

⁷⁹² Greek: ε᾿κβράζω. Josephus's one other use of this verb is in War 3.427.

⁷⁹³ In Jonah 2:11 (Eng. 2:10) the fish, at the Lord's command, vomits Jonah out "on dry land." Marcus ( ad loc.) suggests that Josephus' added specification that the site was "on [the shore of] the "Euxine [Black] Sea" reflects his assumption that this body of water "would be the nearest sea to Nineveh," Jonah's God-designated destination according to 9.209.

⁷⁹⁴ This allusion to Jonah's prayer both drastically condenses and gives a different content to Jonah's "thanksgiving psalm" as cited in Jonah 2:2-10 (Eng. 2:1-9), turning the biblical prophet's extended reminiscence of his affliction, his appeal to God and the latter's hearing of this, as well his concluding promise of praise and statement of confidence there into a summary notice on Jonah's asking pardon for his (unspecified) "offenses." In addition, Josephus has Jonah utter his prayer after, rather than during, his confinement in the fish.

⁷⁹⁵ See Jonah 3:3a α. Josephus omits the biblical references to the new divine word to Jonah (Jonah 3:1-2, 3a β) that prompts him to finally head for Nineveh. In his presentation, Jonah, having recognized the wrongfulness of his earlier shirking of his commission, now does this on his own.

⁷⁹⁶ This transitional phrase replaces the biblical notices on the vast size of Nineveh (Jonah 3:3b) and Jonah's proceeding a day's journey into it (3:4a).

⁷⁹⁷ Greek: πάνυ χρόνον; this is the reading of ROSPELat, which Niese and Marcus follow. M and the ed. pr. have πάλιν ("again").

⁷⁹⁸ Jonah's message in Jonah 3:4b is more precise and ominous: within 40 (MT; LXX 3) days Nineveh will be "overthrown." Josephus' rendering of the prophet's proclamation picks up on the words that God confides to Jonah in 9.209, now with the added specification that Nineveh will be deprived of its rule over Asia within "a very short time."

⁷⁹⁹ Josephus appends this notice concerning what Jonah did once he had delivered his message in Nineveh as recounted in Jonah 3:4b.

⁸⁰⁰ This closing formula for Josephus' Jonah story (9.209-214) reads oddly in that, in fact, he leaves completely unused the whole concluding and climatic portion of the book (Jonah 3:5-4:11), featuring Nineveh's repentance, God's relenting, and the disputation between Jonah and the Deity regarding the latter's sparing of the city. Two main factors would seem to be at work in this large-scale omission on Josephus' part, namely Roman concerns about conversions to Judaism (for which the repentance of Nineveh—like the sailors' previous turning to the Lord, also eliminated by Josephus—might seem a precedent) and the realization that gentile readers would likely find Jonah's resentment at God's sparing of a pagan city as conveyed in the concluding dialogue between him and the Deity offputting. See further Begg 2000: 271-2 and Höffken 2001: 399-400 (who argues that Josephus' non-mention of the Ninevites' repentance and God's acceptance of this is to be explained rather in terms of the historian's subsequent presentation in which Nineveh, in accordance with Nahum's prediction, is destroyed [see 9.239-242]; this happening, according to Höffken, would make better sense if, as in Josephus' account, there has been no previous repentance by the city and pardoning of it by God.