Yunus 2:10

2:10 Then the Lord commanded ¹  the fish and it disgorged Jonah on dry land.

Yunus 3:5

3:5 The people ²  of Nineveh believed in God, ³  and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ⁴ 

[2:10]  ¹ tn Heb “spoke to.” The fish functions as a literary foil to highlight Jonah’s hesitancy to obey God up to this point. In contrast to Jonah who immediately fled when God commanded him, the fish immediately obeyed.

[3:5]  ² tn Heb “men.” The term is used generically here for “people” (so KJV, ASV, and many other English versions); cf. NIV “the Ninevites.”

[3:5]  ³ sn The people of Nineveh believed in God…. Verse 5 provides a summary of the response in Nineveh; the people of all ranks believed and gave evidence of contrition by fasting and wearing sackcloth (2 Sam 12:16, 19-23; 1 Kgs 21:27-29; Neh 9:1-2). Then vv. 6-9 provide specific details, focusing on the king’s reaction. The Ninevites’ response parallels the response of the pagan sailors in 1:6 and 13-16.

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the greatest of them to the least of them.”