“The sailors
Said to one another.
‘Come!
Let us cast lots!
Thus,
We may know
On whose account
This calamity
Has come upon us.’
So,
They cast lots.
The lot fell on Jonah.”
These sailors said to each other that they wanted to cast lots, a common way of making decisions. They wanted to know who was the cause of this great storm. Jonah won the lottery, as the lot fell to him. In other words, they considered that Jonah was the cause of the storm.
Beth
“Yahweh has destroyed,
Without mercy,
All the dwellings
Of Jacob.
In his wrath,
He has broken down
The strongholds
Of daughter Judah.
He has brought down
To the ground,
In dishonor,
The kingdom
With its rulers.”
Yahweh had no mercy when he destroyed all the buildings in the land of Jacob. He was so angry that he broke down all the strong fortresses of his beloved daughter Judah. He has brought down and dishonored the kingdom of Judah and its rulers. Yahweh, not the Babylonian king, was considered the cause of the downfall of Judah. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Beth. Each verse after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this acrostic poem.
“In your majesty
Ride on victoriously!
Defend the cause of truth!
Defend the right!
Let your right hand
Teach you dread deeds!
Your arrows are sharp
In the heart of the king’s enemies.
The peoples fall under you.”
This majestic king must ride on to victory. He must defend the cause of truth and the rights of all. His right hand does dreaded deeds. His sharp arrows are in the hearts of his enemies. Many people fall under him. He is a good looking dude who fights for justice and wins.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 