AN I MADVE R S I O N E S The End of Jonah is the Beginning of Wisdom Apart from Alan Cooper (1), every one agrees that the book of Jonah ends with a rhetorical question (2). YHWH rebuffs Jonah and celebrates human repentance and divine mercy (3). In fact, the Hebrew text of Jon 4,10-11 bears no trace of interrogation: “You grieved over the qiqayon… but as for me, I will not grieve over Nineveh…”. Yet, scholarship stresses that reading Jon 4,11 as a rhetorical question does not create any grammatical or syntactical difficulty (4). Consequently, Cooper’s claim that the end of Jonah is not rhetorical has not gained acceptance. As he establishes his preference for the declarative on the basis of Nahum, he has been accused of letting Nahum control the meaning of Jonah (5). The rhetorical character of 4,11 is based on similar combinations of qatal forms followed by a yiqtol linked with a w (6). Hebrew grammars provide two dozens of parallels showing beyond doubt that the omission of h interrogative is common after a w marking an opposition, in particular after alw (7). Since Jon 4,11 is part of a dialogue, one can argue that the text uses a typical oral style for verisimilitude purposes, and thus omits question markers (8). Yet, a comparison with these instances shows that Jon 4,11 is not equivalent. The majority of unmarked rhetorical questions has to be read as such since there is no other way to make sense of the verse in which they stand. The immediate context provides an unambiguous reply that (1) A. COOPER, “In Praise of Divine Caprice: the Significance of the Book of Jonah”, Among the Prophets (eds. Ph.R. DAVIES – D.J.A. CLINES) (Sheffield 1993) 144-163. (2) Among many others: A. ABELA, “When the Agenda of an Artistic Composition is Hidden”, The Elusive Prophet (ed. J.C. de MOOR) (Leiden 2001) 1-30 (27-29). P. HÖFFKEN, “Das Ende des Jonabuches. Eine Anmerkung zu Jona 4,11”, TZ 56 (2000) 289-297; P. KHAN, “The Epilogue to Jonah”, JBQ 28 (2000) 146-155; W.B. CROUCH, “To Question and End, to End a Question: Opening the Closure of the Book of Jonah”, JSOT 62 (1994) 101-112; T.F. GLASSON, “The Final Question – In Nahum and Jonah”, ExpTim 81 (1969/70) 54-55. (3) Jonah is recited on Yom Kippur in the synagogue. (4) E. BEN ZVI, Signs of Jonah. Reading and Rereading in Ancient Yehud (London 2003) 14, n. 1. (5) P. TRIBLE, Rhetorical Criticism (Minneapolis 1994) 215, n. 48. (6) A. KAMP, Inner Worlds (Leiden 2004) 109, n. 39. (7) For instance P. JOÜON – T. MURAOKA, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome 1996) §161ab and Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar available at http://www.biblecentre.net/ ot/ges/gr/hegr-Index.html. (8) A friend sent an illustration of this principle. When Lenin died, Stalin received a telegram from Trotsky. His adviser read it out: “It says: ‘Lenin is dead. You will be leader. I should be pleased’”. “That’s very magnanimous of him” said Stalin. But a Jewish official said: “No, no. You haven’t read it properly. Jewish people write differently. It says: ‘Lenin is dead? You will be leader? I should be pleased?’”.