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Jonah
Wheel of Heaven Translation
Jonah 2: the great fish and Jonah's prayer from its belly
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Established or uncontested across mainstream sources, or a direct description of the project itself.
The MethodJonah (Hebrew Yonah) is the story of a prophet who flees his commission. This translation covers Jonah 2, the chapter that the Raëlian canon cites: YHWH appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah, who prays from its belly and is cast out onto the dry land. Verse numbers follow the Hebrew, so the fish of the English 1:17 is verse 2:1 here. The notes give the rabbinic tradition of the two fish (Midrash Yonah, cited by Rashi). Verses with a note end in a bracketed marker [ ]; select it to open the note.
About this translation
- Edition
- Pointed Hebrew Masoretic text of the Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain), via Sefaria. The English translation and notes are released CC0.
- Coverage
- Chapter 2 translated (11 verses): every chapter of the book cited in the Raëlian canon. The rest of the book is not translated.
- Review status
- Reviewed and signed off.
Jonah 2 — The great fish and Jonah's prayer from its belly
2
Then Jonah prayed to YHWH his God from the belly of the fish,
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֣ל יוֹנָ֔ה אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהָ֑יו מִמְּעֵ֖י הַדָּגָֽה׃
3
and he said: "I called out of my distress to YHWH, and he answered me; out of the belly of She'ol I cried, and you heard my voice.
But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר קָ֠רָאתִי מִצָּ֥רָה לִ֛י אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה וַֽיַּעֲנֵ֑נִי מִבֶּ֧טֶן שְׁא֛וֹל שִׁוַּ֖עְתִּי שָׁמַ֥עְתָּ קוֹלִֽי׃
4
For you cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all your breakers and your waves passed over me.
But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
וַתַּשְׁלִיכֵ֤נִי מְצוּלָה֙ בִּלְבַ֣ב יַמִּ֔ים וְנָהָ֖ר יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי כָּל־מִשְׁבָּרֶ֥יךָ וְגַלֶּ֖יךָ עָלַ֥י עָבָֽרוּ׃
5
And I said, 'I am cast out from before your eyes; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
וַאֲנִ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי נִגְרַ֖שְׁתִּי מִנֶּ֣גֶד עֵינֶ֑יךָ אַ֚ךְ אוֹסִ֣יף לְהַבִּ֔יט אֶל־הֵיכַ֖ל קָדְשֶֽׁךָ׃
6
The waters closed in around me, even to the soul; the deep was round about me; weeds were wrapped about my head.
So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
אֲפָפ֤וּנִי מַ֙יִם֙ עַד־נֶ֔פֶשׁ תְּה֖וֹם יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי ס֖וּף חָב֥וּשׁ לְרֹאשִֽׁי׃
7
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with its bars was about me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, YHWH my God.
They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
לְקִצְבֵ֤י הָרִים֙ יָרַ֔דְתִּי הָאָ֛רֶץ בְּרִחֶ֥יהָ בַעֲדִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם וַתַּ֧עַל מִשַּׁ֛חַת חַיַּ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהָֽי׃
8
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHWH; and my prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?”
בְּהִתְעַטֵּ֤ף עָלַי֙ נַפְשִׁ֔י אֶת־יְהוָ֖ה זָכָ֑רְתִּי וַתָּב֤וֹא אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ תְּפִלָּתִ֔י אֶל־הֵיכַ֖ל קָדְשֶֽׁךָ׃
9
Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own kindness.
He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
מְשַׁמְּרִ֖ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא חַסְדָּ֖ם יַעֲזֹֽבוּ׃
10
But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to YHWH."
Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.
וַאֲנִ֗י בְּק֤וֹל תּוֹדָה֙ אֶזְבְּחָה־לָּ֔ךְ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָדַ֖רְתִּי אֲשַׁלֵּ֑מָה יְשׁוּעָ֖תָה לַיהוָֽה׃ (ס)
11
And YHWH spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָ֖ה לַדָּ֑ג וַיָּקֵ֥א אֶת־יוֹנָ֖ה אֶל־הַיַּבָּשָֽׁה׃ (פ)
Editorial history
Review record. The chapter file carries status: stable (v1.0.0) with a named human reviewer (zarazinsfuss), signed off on 2026-11-01 in the Latter Prophets wave (LP1) of the canon-cited program. The editor report, the reviewer reports in the chapter files and the sign-off package (data-library/zechariah-woh/wave-lp1-signoff-package.md) record every decision.
Selection. Part of the program to translate, as whole chapters, every biblical chapter that the three Raëlian canon books (The Book Which Tells the Truth, Extra-Terrestrials Took Me to Their Planet, Let's Welcome the Extra-Terrestrials) cite. With this release the program is complete: 87 chapters.
Conventions. The prophetic volumes follow the Isaiah conventions: ʾĕlōhîm is "God", ʾereṣ "earth" in cosmic contexts and "land" for territory, divine rûaḥ a lower-case "spirit", tôrâ "teaching", maśśāʾ "oracle", and nəʾum YHWH "declares YHWH". Proper names are in their English forms. The canon's readings appear only in notes headed "Wheel of Heaven reading (reception note, not a translation claim)".
Production. Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 and taken through the Wheel of Heaven Translation Program pipeline (Translator → Editor → Reviewer → human sign-off). Central glossary 2.84.0–2.90.0; jonah-woh overlay v1.0.0. Reference translation: ASV (1901). Methodology: Source-Text Translation.
wayman YHWH dāḡ gāḏôl 'And YHWH prepared a great fish' (overlay
dag-gadol-great-fish-jonah-2). wayman, the Piel of mānâ 'appoint, assign', is the verb the book uses for each of YHWH's appointed agents (the plant, the worm and the east wind, 4:6-8); 'prepared' is the ASV's word and is kept, while NRSV and NJPS have 'provided' (Sasson, Jonah, AB 24B, 1990). dāḡ gāḏôl is 'a great fish', with no species: the Old Greek kētos 'sea-monster', taken up in Matt 12:40, lies behind the English 'whale'. The verse is 1:17 in English Bibles. This translation keeps the Hebrew numbering, in which it opens chapter 2, so JNA-WOH-2:2-11 correspond to English 2:1-10 (overlaymt-versification-jonah-2). The hosted reference files for this chapter are the World English Bible in English numbering; the printed ASV (1901) was the comparison text.Wheel of Heaven reading (reception note, not a translation claim). The Book Which Tells the Truth (ch. 3) quotes this verse in the Hebrew numbering ('Jonas, II-1': 'Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights') and reads the 'great fish' as a submarine in which the creators could converse with Jonah and follow the political events of the time. The line translates dāḡ gāḏôl literally and does not identify the fish.