כִּ֤י

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 כִּ֤י

   KI

   that
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙

   KI a-TA

   that you
3. clause🔊 כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙ אֵֽל־חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֔וּם אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־הָרָעָֽה׃

   KI ya-da-TI KI a-TA el-kha-NUN ve-ra-KHUM E-rekh a-PA-yim ve-rav-KHE-sed ve-ni-KHAM al-ha-ra-A

   for I knew that you a gracious God and merciful long of nostrils or of anger and abundant in steadfast love and relenting from the evil or from the calamity
4. sentence🔊 וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨ל אֶל־יְהוָ֜ה וַיֹּאמַ֗ר אָנָּ֤ה יְהוָה֙ הֲלוֹא־זֶ֣ה דְבָרִ֗י עַד־הֱיוֹתִי֙ עַל־אַדְמָתִ֔י עַל־כֵּ֥ן קִדַּ֖מְתִּי לִבְרֹ֣חַ תַּרְשִׁ֑ישָׁה כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙ אֵֽל־חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֔וּם אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־הָרָעָֽה׃

   va-yit-pal-LEL el-ye-ho-VAH va-yo-MAR AN-na ye-ho-VAH ha-lo-ZE de-va-RI ad-he-yo-TI al-ad-ma-TI al-KEN ki-dam-TI liv-RO-akh tar-shi-SHA KI ya-da-TI KI a-TA el-kha-NUN ve-ra-KHUM E-rekh a-PA-yim ve-rav-KHE-sed ve-ni-KHAM al-ha-ra-A

   and he prayed to the LORD and he said please LORD is it not this my word or my matter while I was being on my ground or on my land therefore I acted earlier or I hastened to flee to Tarshish for I knew that you a gracious God and merciful long of nostrils or of anger and abundant in steadfast love and relenting from the evil or from the calamity

Exegesis

The causal kî yādaʿtî kî {כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י | kî yā-daʿ-tî kî} ‘for I knew that’ introduces the theological ground: a stacked attributive description (gracious, compassionate, long of nostrils, abundant in steadfast love, and relenting) culminating in venikham ʿal-hārāʿāh {וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־הָרָעָֽה | wə-niḥām ʿal-hā-rāʿāh} ‘relenting concerning the calamity,’ which functions as the climax explaining Jonah’s frustration. The English renderings preserve the rhetorical question and the causal chain (therefore…for…)