The End of Jonah is the Beginning of Wisdom 245 context provides an answer to confirm the presence of a hidden question just before. When an reply is missing, the phrase can be translated as a question or as an affirmation with little impact on the overall meaning of the passage, except in Jon 4,11 and Job 2,10. Some modern translators are conscious of the problem and replace the question mark at the end of Jonah by an exclamation: “And should I not pity …!” (15). Such subtleties would be harmless if Jon 4,10-11 was not critical to the meaning of the book as a whole. Because they originate in the mouth of God, these verses reflect the concluding issue and deliver a “splendid coup de grâce” (16). 1. Jonah 4,11 and the Questions in Jonah 4 Jonah 4 contains three questions. If any of them is rhetorical, the rhetorical aspect of the final verses gains credibility. Jon 4,2 is Jonah’s defence for his attempted escape to Tarshish: “Is this not what I said while I was still in my own country?” In Jon 4,4.9 JHWH and Elohim question Jonah’s anger “Is it good for you to be angry?”. All three questions are properly indicated by the interrogative h particle: hzAawlh (Jon 4,2) and bfyhh (Jon 4,4.9). The first question seems rhetorical since no direct answer is provided. Instead of answering whether or not Jonah was justified in boarding a boat to Tarshish, JHWH shifts the focus on Jonah’s anger and answers with a question of his own. Jonah’s question is rhetorical if its answer is obvious, but this is not the case. Since Jon 1 is silent on Jonah’s motivations, the reader has no way to know what Jonah thought at the time. Hence readers of Jon 4,2 are likely to side with the sailors (Jon 1,10) and disown Jonah: disobedience to any God-given mission is surely wrong. If the answer to the question in 4,2 is not obvious, the rhetorical process breaks down (17). Then comes God’s turn to ask “Is anger good for you?”. Instead of answering, Jonah leaves the city. Again, the lack of answer seems to qualify this question as rhetorical, but God repeats it verbatim in verse 9, only adding that the anger is “about the bush”. This time Jonah bursts out “Anger is good for me until death!”. Jon 4,4.9 are not rhetorical since they receive a clear positive answer (18). Jonah considers that his anger over the death of the qiqayon is legitimate and he is ready to die for it. This leaves Jonah’s question at 4,2 as the only unanswered question, until vv. 10-11 are reached. There, JHWH answers Jonah squarely. You suggest that you were right in escaping Nineveh in order not to preach a message of doom because you knew that mercy would lead me to have pity. But I am not human (15) Bible d’Alexandrie, Les Douze (Paris 1999): “Et moi, je n’épargnerai pas Ninive…?” (future indicative rather than conditional “épargnerais”). So far, the provisional edition of the New English Translation of the Septuagint sticks with the old “But shall I not have consideration for Nineue…?”: . (16) J.H. GAINES, Forgiveness in a Wounded World. Jonah’s Dilemma (Atlanta 2003) 122. (17) In fact Jonah is anti-rhetorical: Y. GITAY, “Jonah: the Prophet of Antirhetoric”, Fortunate the Eyes that See (ed. A.B. BECK) (Grand Rapids 1995) 197-206. (18) Contra G.M. LANDES, “Textual ‘Information Gaps’ and ‘Dissonances’ in the Interpretation of the Book of Jonah”, Ki Baruch Hu (eds. R. CHAZAN – W.W. HALLO – L.H. SCHIFFMAN) (Winona Lake 1999) 285.