What Does Jonah 1:3 Mean in the King James?
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Jonah’s flight takes him down, but never takes him out of the LORD’s face.
THE MEANING
You can choose a route, pay the fare, and enter a ship bound elsewhere; none of that removes you from the LORD’s presence. The verse repeats the descent: you rise to flee, then go down to Joppa and down into the ship. The presence you are fleeing remains named at both ends of the journey.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that leaving the place of encounter makes you absent from the LORD. Distance changes your route; it does not erase presence.
THE ROOT
מִלִּפְנֵי
millifnei
GROWS FROM
פנה
P-N-H
To turn or face.
The verse repeats “from before the face of the LORD.” Presence is framed as being before a face, not simply remaining in a particular place. Jonah changes direction, but the face he flees stays in the sentence.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face; presence
פָּנִים
This related word makes the face within “presence” visible.
lifnei: Before; in front of
לִפְנֵי
This is the “before” in the repeated phrase “from before the LORD.”
וַיֵּרֶד
wayyēred
GROWS FROM
ירד
Y-R-D
To descend or go down.
“went down” in this verse is wayyēred. The verse sets Jonah’s rising against two descents: he rises to flee, then goes down to Joppa and down into the ship. The repeated root gives his attempt to get away a downward rhythm.
ALSO GROWS
Yarden: Jordan; traditionally understood as “the descender”
יַרְדֵּן
The river’s name preserves this descent-root in a place-name.
yeridah: Descent; going down
יְרִידָה
This noun makes explicit the motion repeated in Jonah’s route.
לִבְרֹחַ
livroaḥ
GROWS FROM
ברח
B-R-Ḥ
To flee or escape.
“to flee” in this verse is livroaḥ. The verse names Jonah’s intention as flight, then repeats that he is fleeing from the LORD’s presence. The same root appears in the question of whether anyone can flee from that presence in Psalm 139:7.
ALSO GROWS
baraḥ: He fled
בָּרַח
This verb form carries the same root as Jonah’s stated intention.
beriaḥ: Bar; bolt; crossbar
בְּרִיחַ
This related word names a bar or bolt, another form from the same consonantal family as flight.
THE PATTERN
Changing direction or hiding place does not place you beyond the reach of the LORD’s presence.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?Psalm 139 uses the same Hebrew root for “flee” as Jonah 1:3, and it repeats the language of fleeing from the LORD’s presence. Its question opens Jonah’s route into a direct recognition: changing direction does not answer where you can go beyond that presence.
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