392 Yoo-ki Kim angry?” the utterance could be an expression of Yahweh’s sympathy and understanding of Jonah’s situation (18). According to the story, Jonah, the reluctant prophet, is angry because his prophecy about the doom of Nineveh has not come true after he carried out Yahweh’s instruction. In contrast, if one takes the infinitive absolute form as a predicate and translates the sentence as “Is it right that you are angry?” or “Are you rightly angry?”, the question serves as an expression of Yahweh’s displeasure at Jonah’s unjustifiable anger. Most modern commentators choose the latter option (19). However, contextually either option is possible. The verb hrj is often modified by the adverb dam (20). When the latter follows the verb, it emphasizes the extent of the burning anger. Interestingly in Jonah 4,9, when Jonah answers Yahweh’s question, he adds the prepositional phrase twm d[ “to death” to his answer: Jonah is angry to death. This prepositional phrase is equivalent to a degree adverb. Thus, it is possible that the three occurrences of bfyh in Jonah 4 also function as degree adverbs. But this alone cannot be conclusive evidence. There are a few infinitive absolutes that have almost lost their functions as infinitives and behave as normal adverbs. Most of them are in the hiphil. Included in this category are hbrh, μkvh, br[h, qjrh, rhm, and bfyh (21). The most common among these is hbrh. In almost all cases it simply means “much” and is often modified by another adverb dam. The hiphil of the root μkv generally means “rise up early”. However, its infinitive absolute form μkvh simply means “early in the morning”, “early”, or “earnestly”. In 1 Sam 17,16, μkvh is coordinated with br[h, a denominative from the noun br[ “evening”: “The Philistine drew near morning and evening (br[hw μkvh) and took his stand for forty days”. The adverb qjrh, which occurs only four times, means “far away”. As for rhm, the only piel form in our list, it almost always functions as an adverb that means “quickly” and modifies the preceding verb. According to Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley, the adverb bfyh expresses “the careful and thorough performance of an action” (22). As an example, consider Deut 9,21 where bfyh functions as a pure adverb. rp[l qd rva d[ bfyh ˆwjf wta tkaw “I crushed it, grinding thoroughly until it became as fine as dust”. (Deut 9,21) (18) SASSON, Jonah, 287. It is notable, however, that though U. SIMON, Jonah (The JPS Bible Commentary; Philadelphia, PA 1999) 38-39, adopts the rendering of the new JPS translation of Jonah 4,4 “Are you that deeply angry?”, he still thinks that Yahweh rejects the justification of Jonah’s suffering and expects his prophet’s repentance. Yet in this rendering, Yahweh does not ask, at least explicitly, if Jonah’s anger is justifiable or not. (19) See, e.g., L.C. ALLEN, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah (NICOT; Grand Rapids, MI 1976) 230-231; D.K. STUART, Hosea–Jonah (WBC 31; Nashville, TN 1987) 503-504; T.D. ALEXANDER, “Jonah: An Introduction and Commentary,” Obadiah, Jonah, Micah (eds. D.W. BAKER – T.D. ALEXANDER – B.K. WALTKE) (TOTC; Leicester 1988) 127; SIMON, Jonah, 38-39. (20) Gen 4,5; 34,7; Num 11,10; 16,15; 1 Sam 11,6; 18,8; 2 Sam 3,8; 12,5; 13,21; 2 Chr 25,10; Neh 4,1; 5,6. (21) See GKC, §113k; JOÜON, Grammaire, §102e; WALTKE – O’CONNOR, Introduction, 592-593. In this list, all are in the hiphil except for rhm, which is in the piel. (22) GKC, §113k.