¹ tn Heb “This you must do with the fear of the Lord, with honesty, and with a complete heart.”

¹ tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.

¹ tn Heb “and they [feminine plural] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Joining a fear of God to mercy is an important balance when involved in disciplinary action. On the one hand, being merciful without fear can turn to unwarranted sympathy for the individual, absolving him of personal responsibility, but fearing God without showing mercy can turn into personal judgment and condemnation.

⁴ sn This chapter describes the wise woman as fearing the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom—that was the motto of the book (1:7). Psalm 111:10 also repeats that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

² tn Heb “there is no fear.” Apparently this means the evildoers are so traumatized with panic (see v. 5b) that they now jump with fear at everything, even those things that would not normally cause fear. Ps 14:5 omits this line.

¹ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

¹ sn The idea of the first line is similar to Prov 1:7 and 9:10. Here it may mean that the fear of the Lord results from the discipline of wisdom, just as easily as it may mean that the fear of the Lord leads to the discipline of wisdom. The second reading harmonizes with the theme in the book that the fear of the Lord is the starting point.

² tn Grk “fell on.” BDAG 377 s.v. ἐπιπίπτω 2 has “φόβος ἐ. ἐπί τινα fear came upon someone…Ac 19:17.”

⁶ tn Grk “for they feared lest they be stoned by the people.” The translation uses a less awkward English equivalent. This is an explanatory note by the author.

² tn The particle used here (οὐδέ, oude), which expects a positive reply, makes this a rebuke—“You should fear God and not speak!”

⁴ tn Grk “fear,” but the context and the following remark show that it is mixed with wonder; see L&N 53.59.

¹ tn Or “fear.” The verb יָרֵא (yareʾ) has a broad range of meanings, including “to fear, to worship, to revere, to respect” (BDB 431 s.v.). When God is the object, it normally means “to fear” (leading to obedience; BDB 431 s.v. 1) or “to worship” (= to stand in awe of; BDB 431 s.v. 2). Because the fear of God leads to wisdom and obedience, that is probably not the sense here. Instead Jonah professes to be a loyal Yahwist—in contrast to the pagan Phoenician sailors who worshiped false gods, he worshiped the one true God. Unfortunately, his worship of the Lord lacked the necessary moral prerequisite.

² sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.

² sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.

¹ tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.

³ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

² tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear; he is your [object of] terror.” The roots מוֹרָא (mōwrā) and עָרַץ (ʿarats) are repeated from v. 12b.

¹ tn Heb “and all the hills which were hoed with a hoe, you will not go there [for] fear of the thorns and briers.”

³ sn “Snare” is an implied comparison; fearing people is like being in a trap—there is no freedom of movement or sense of security.