Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Message"Who can tell? God may yet turn and relent, drawing back from His fierce anger — so that we do not die."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.G"Who knows? Elohim may turn and relent, turning back from His burning anger — and we will not perish."
KJV
King James VersionWho can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleWho knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
Footnotes
מִי יוֹדֵעַ ("who knows?") echoes Joel 2:14 almost word for word — "Who knows whether He will turn and relent?" — a shared prophetic idiom that colours the king's cry with scriptural humility rather than presumption. וְנִחַם (weniḥam) — "relent" — is the Niphal of נָחַם, the same verb that appears in v.10 as God's actual response and in 4:2 where Yonah quotes God's own character to Him. The king uses it in hope; the narrator confirms it in fact; Yonah had known it all along — which is precisely why he fled.
