Editing Jonah (section)

==The fish==
===Translation===
[[File:Germany Worms Cathedral Jonah.jpg|thumb|Depiction of Jonah and the "great fish" on the south doorway of the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]-era [[Worms Cathedral|Dom St. Peter]], in [[Worms, Germany]]]]
Though art and culture often depicts Jonah's fish as a [[whale]], the Hebrew text, as throughout scripture,{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} refers to no marine species in particular, simply saying "great fish" or "big fish". While some biblical scholars suggest the size and habits of the [[great white shark]] correspond better to the representations of Jonah's experiences, normally an adult human is too large to be swallowed whole. The development of [[whaling]] from the 18th century onwards made it clear that most, if not all, species of whale are incapable of swallowing a human, leading to much controversy about the veracity of the biblical story of Jonah.<ref name="Kemp1979">{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Peter Kemp|title=The Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VmnPwAACAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-586-08308-6|page=434|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217011744/https://books.google.com/books?id=8VmnPwAACAAJ|archive-date=17 February 2017}}</ref>

In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translations), the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] text reads ''dag gadol''<ref name="blb">{{cite web|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/lxx/jon/1/17/t_conc_890017|title=Yonah - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (LXX)|website=[[Blue Letter Bible]]|access-date=24 August 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911144915/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lxx/jon/1/17/t_conc_890017|archive-date=11 September 2016}}</ref> ({{Lang|he|דג גדול}}) or, in the Hebrew [[Masoretic Text]], {{Lang|he-Latn|dāḡ gāḏōl}} ({{Lang|he|דָּ֣ג גָּד֔וֹל}}), which means "great fish".<ref name="blb" /><ref>{{cite book|url=http://biblehub.com/interlinear/jonah/1-17.htm|title=Interlinear Bible: Greek, Hebrew, Transliterated, English ...|publisher=Bible Hub|access-date=24 August 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911130706/http://biblehub.com/interlinear/jonah/1-17.htm|archive-date=11 September 2016}}</ref> The [[Septuagint]] translates this phrase into Greek as {{Lang|grc-Latn|kētei megalōi}} ({{Lang|grc|κήτει μεγάλῳ}}), meaning "huge fish".<ref name=Robertson1960>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VhaeqyhMjHgC |title=Word Pictures in the New Testament – Matthew |first=A. T. |last=Robertson |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|date=1960|isbn=978-1-610-25188-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VhaeqyhMjHgC&dq=%22Jon+2:1%22%22kētei+megalōi%22%22huge+fish%22&pg=PT99 99] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206061553/https://books.google.com/books?id=VhaeqyhMjHgC&printsec=frontcover|archive-date=6 December 2016}}</ref> In [[Greek mythology]], the same word meaning "fish" (''[[Cetus (mythology)|kêtos]]'') is used to describe the [[sea monster]] slain by the hero [[Perseus]] that nearly devoured the Princess [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]].{{sfn|Bremmer|2014|page=28}} [[Jerome]] later translated this phrase as {{Lang|la|piscis grandis}} in his Latin [[Vulgate]].<ref>{{Bibleref2|Jonah|2:1|VULGATE}}</ref> He translated ''koilia kétous'', however, as ''ventre ceti'' in [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 12:40:<ref>{{Bibleref2|Matthew|12:40|VULGATE}}</ref> this second case occurs only in this verse of the [[New Testament]].{{sfn|Ziolkowski|2007|page=81}}<ref name=Parris2015>{{cite book|last=Parris|first=David Paul|title=Reading the Bible with Giants. How 2000 Years of Biblical Interpretation Can Shed New Light on Old Texts|edition=2|page=40|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|location=Eugene, Oregon|year=2015|isbn=978-1-625-64728-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JN30BgAAQBAJ|quote=What is interesting...is the way that Jerome...translated the references to the big fish in Jonah and Matthew. [...] In translating Matt 12:40, however, he follows the Greek text and says that Jonah was in the ''ventre ceti''—the belly of the whale/sea monster"}}</ref>

At some point ''cetus'' became synonymous with "whale" (the study of whales is now called ''[[cetology]]''). In his 1534 translation, [[William Tyndale]] translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe" and the word ''kétos'' (Greek) or {{Lang|la|cetus}} (Latin) in Matthew 12:40<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|12:40|9}}</ref> as "whale". Tyndale's translation was later incorporated into the [[King James Version|Authorized Version]] of 1611. Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale. In English some translations use the word "whale" for Matthew 12:40, while others use "sea creature" or "big fish".<ref name=Huber2013>{{cite book|last1=Huber|first1=Walt|last2=Huber|first2=Rose|title=How Did God Do It? A Symphony of Science and Scripture|page=216|publisher=Friesen Press|location=Victoria, British Columbia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khtQAwAAQBAJ|year=2013|isbn=978-1-460-21127-4|quote=The word ''whale'' is never used in the book of Jonah. The only biblical reference to "Jonah and the whale" appears in the New Testament in Matthew 12:40 (KJV & RSV). [...] ''Whale'' is not used in the other translations: TEV uses ''big fish''; NLT, ''great fish''; and TNIV, ''huge fish''"}}</ref>

===Scientific speculation===
[[File:Whale shark Georgia aquarium.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Photograph of a [[whale shark]], the largest known species of fish<ref name=Wood1976>{{cite book|first=Gerald L.|last=Wood|title=The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=AWhFAQAAIAAJ}}|year=1976|publisher=Guinness Superlatives|isbn=978-0-900424-60-1}}</ref>]]
[[File:0b4a8510 by vitaly sokol-dbw14sol.jpg|thumb|Photograph of a [[sperm whale]], the largest toothed predator and one of the largest extant species of whales]]
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, [[Naturalism (philosophy)|naturalists]], interpreting the Jonah story as a historical account, became obsessed with trying to identify the exact species of the fish that swallowed Jonah.{{sfn|Sherwood|2000|pages=42–45}} In the mid-nineteenth century, [[Edward Bouverie Pusey]], professor of Hebrew at [[Oxford University]], claimed that the Book of Jonah must have been authored by Jonah himself{{sfn|Green|2011|page=48}} and argued that the fish story must be historically true, or else it would not have been included in the Bible.{{sfn|Green|2011|page=48}} Pusey attempted to scientifically catalogue the fish,{{sfn|Sherwood|2000|pages=47–48}} hoping to "shame those who speak of the miracle of Jonah's preservation in the fish as a thing less credible than any of God's other miraculous doings".{{sfn|Sherwood|2000|page=48}}

The debate over the fish in the Book of Jonah played a major role during [[Clarence Darrow]]'s [[Scopes trial#Examination of Bryan|cross-examination of William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial]] in 1925.<ref name=Smolla1997>{{cite news|last=Smolla|first=Rodney A.|title=Monkey Business|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=5 October 1997|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/05/reviews/971005.05smollat.html|access-date=6 February 2024}}</ref><ref name=Lidz2016>{{cite magazine|last=Lidz|first=Franz|title=How Much Has the Town Where the Scopes Trial Took Place Evolved Since the 1920s?|magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|location=Washington, D.C.|date=April 2016|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/dayton-tennessee-evolved-scopes-trial-180958497/}}</ref>{{sfn|Gaines|2003|page=19}} Darrow asked Bryan, "When you read that ... the whale swallowed Jonah ... how do you literally interpret that?".<ref name=Smolla1997/> Bryan replied that he believed in "a God who can make a whale and can make a man and make both of them do what He pleases."<ref name=Smolla1997/>{{sfn|Gaines|2003|page=19}} Bryan ultimately admitted that it was necessary to interpret the Bible,<ref name=Smolla1997/> and is generally regarded as having come off looking like a "buffoon".<ref name=Lidz2016/>

The largest of all whales – [[blue whale]]s – are [[baleen whale]]s which eat [[plankton]]; and "it is commonly said that this species would be choked if it attempted to swallow a [[herring]]."<ref>
Lydekker's New Natural History, Vol, III, p. 6.</ref> The largest of all fishes – the [[whale shark]] – has a large mouth, but its throat is only four inches wide, with a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening, such that not even a human arm would be able to pass through it. Therefore, Jonah could not have been swallowed by a whale shark.<ref name=Gudger1940>{{cite journal|last=Gudger|first=Eugene Willis|title=Twenty-five Years' Quest of the Whale Shark|journal=The Scientific Monthly|volume=50|issue=3|pages=225–233|year=1940|jstor=16929|bibcode=1940SciMo..50..225G }}</ref>

[[Sperm whales]], however, appear to be a different matter: They regularly eat [[giant squid]], so presumably one could swallow a human.<ref name=":0"/> Similar to a cow, sperm whales have four-chambered stomachs.<ref name=":0"/> The first chamber has no gastric juices but has muscular walls to crush its food.<ref>{{cite web |last=Reidenberg |first=Joy|date=19 November 2014|title=What would happen if you were swallowed by a whale?|website=[[The Naked Scientists]]|url=https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/science-features/what-would-happen-if-you-were-swallowed-whale|access-date=May 7, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith |first1=Chris |last2=Scales |first2=Helen|date=27 June 2010|title=Could a human survive swallowing by a whale? |website=[[The Naked Scientists]] |url=https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/could-human-survive-swallowing-whale|access-date=7 May 2021}}</ref> On the other hand, it is not possible to breathe inside the sperm whale's stomach because there is no air (but probably methane instead).<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine|last=Eveleth |first=Rose |author-link=Rose Eveleth |date=25 February 2013|title=Could a whale accidentally swallow you? It is possible|magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-a-whale-accidentally-swallow-you-it-is-possible-26353362/|access-date=21 March 2020}}</ref> A 2023 novel by [[Daniel Kraus (author)|Daniel Kraus]] explores the idea of a man surviving being swallowed by a sperm whale, but with an oxygen tank.<ref>''Whalefall'' by Daniel Kraus.[https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Whalefall/Daniel-Kraus/9781665918183] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920090212/https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Whalefall/Daniel-Kraus/9781665918183|date=20 September 2023}} See {{cite journal |last1=Neil McRobert |date=23 August 2023 |title=Whalefall review: Stunning novel about being swallowed by a whale |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2388496-whalefall-review-stunning-novel-about-being-swallowed-by-a-whale/# |journal=New Scientist}}</ref>