King James Version
Jonah 2
10 verses with commentary
Jonah's Prayer from the Fish
Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
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KJV Study Commentary
From the depths of the fish, Jonah finally prays: "Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly." The Hebrew <em>vayyitpallel Yonah el-YHWH Elohav mimei hadagah</em> (וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל יוֹנָה אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו מִמְּעֵי הַדָּגָה) marks Jonah's first prayer in the book—he didn't pray when fleeing, or on the ship, or when thrown overboard. Only from inside the fish does he call on G...
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II.
JONAH’S PRAYER AND DELIVERANCE.
(1) **Then Jonah prayed.—**This introduction, to what is in reality a psalm of thanksgiving, has its parallel in Hannah’s song (1Samuel 2:1-10), which is introduced in the same way. Comp. also the Note appended by the psalm collector at the end of Psalms 72, “The *prayers* of David the son of Jesse are ended.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
16-18. The prince's possession is to be inalienable, and any portion given to a servant is to revert to his sons at the year of jubilee, that he may have no temptation to spoil his people of their inheritance, as formerly (compare Ahab and Naboth, 1Ki 21:1-29). The mention of the year of jubilee implies that there is something literal meant, besides the spiritual sense. The jubilee year was restor...
Read full commentary →And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. by: or, out of mine affliction hell: or, the grave
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KJV Study Commentary
Jonah's prayer begins: "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice." The Hebrew <em>qara'ti mitzarah li el-YHWH vaya'aneni mibbeten she'ol shivati shamata qoli</em> (קָרָאתִי מִצָּרָה לִי אֶל־יְהוָה וַיַּעֲנֵנִי מִבֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל שִׁוַּעְתִּי שָׁמַעְתָּ קוֹלִי) describes prayer from extremity.<br><br>"Mine afflic...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **By reason of mine affliction.—**See margin. There is a close correspondence between this opening and that of Psalms 120 Comp. also Psalm 18:6.
**Out of the belly of hell.**—This remarkable expression—a forcible figure for imminent death—has its nearest parallel in Isaiah 5:14, where *sheôl* (see Psalm 6:5) is represented as opening a huge mouth to swallow the princes of the world and their p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. midst: Heb. heart
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.</strong> Jonah describes his drowning experience with vivid poetic imagery drawn from Psalms. "Thou hadst cast me" (<em>vatashlikheni metzulah</em>, וַתַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי מְצוּלָה) attributes the action directly to God, though technically the sailors t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Hadst cast.—**Rather, *didst cast.* (See Psalm 88:6.)
**Floods.**—Literally, *river,* used here of the ocean currents. (Comp. Psalm 24:2.)
**All thy billows and thy waves.—**More exactly, *all thy breakers and billows.* (See Psalm 42:7, where the same expression is used figuratively for great danger and distress.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.</strong> Jonah's emotional state oscillates between despair and hope. "I am cast out of thy sight" (<em>nigrashti minneged eyneka</em>, נִגְרַשְׁתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ) uses <em>garash</em> (גָּרַשׁ), meaning to drive out, expel, or banish—the same verb used for Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden (Genesi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **I am cast out of thy sight.**—“Jonah had wilfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of it. David had said in his haste, “I am cut off” (Psalm 31:22), Jonah substitutes the stronger word, “I am cast forth,” driven forth, expelled like the mire and dirt which the waves drive along, or like the waves themselves in their...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.</strong> Jonah continues describing his near-death drowning with increasingly desperate imagery. "The waters compassed me about, even to the soul" (<em>afafuni mayim ad-nafesh</em>, אֲפָפוּנִי מַיִם עַד־נָפֶשׁ) uses <em>afaf</em> (אָפַף), meaning to surround, encompass, o...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **The waters.—**See reference in margin.
**The weeds were wrapped about my head.—**This graphic touch is quite original. The figure of overwhelming waters is a common one in Hebrew song to represent some crushing sorrow, but nowhere is the picture so vivid as here. At the same time the entire absence of any reference to the fish, which would, indeed, be altogether out of place in this picture ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. bottoms: Heb. cuttings off corruption: or, the pit
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.</strong> Jonah's descent reaches its lowest point before deliverance. "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains" (<em>leqatzvei harim yaradti</em>, לְקַצְוֵי הָרִים יָרַדְתִּי) describes sinking to the ocean floor where underwater m...
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(6) **Bottoms of the mountains.—**Literally, *ends* or *cuttings off,* as, in margin. So the Vulg. *extrema montium.* Mountains were in the Hebrew conception the pillars of the world (see Job 9:6; Job 26:11), having their foundations firmly planted in the sea. These “hidden bases of the hills” were therefore the verge of the earth itself, and one lost among them would be close on the under-world o...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.</strong> At the point of death, Jonah finally turns to God in genuine prayer. "When my soul fainted within me" (<em>behit'atef alay nafshi</em>, בְּהִתְעַטֵּף עָלַי נַפְשִׁי) uses <em>ataf</em> (עָטַף), meaning to grow faint, feeble, or weak. The reflexive form indicates self-indu...
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(7) **Fainted.**—Literally, *covered itself.* Comp. Jonah 4:8. (See Psalm 61:2; Psalm 142:3; Psalm 143:4, where the same Hebrew word is rendered *overwhelmed.* Comp. Psalm 107:5.) Here, apparently, we are to think of the blinding mist of death slowly stealing over sight and sense.
**Into thine holy temple.—**See Jonah 2:4, and comp. Psalm 18:6.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19-24. Due regard is to be had for the sanctity of the officiating priests' food, by cooking courts being provided close to their chambers. One set of apartments for cooking was to be at the corners of the inner court, reserved for the flesh of the sin offerings, to be eaten only by the priests whose perquisite it was (Le 6:25; 7:7), before coming forth to mingle again with the people; another set...
Read full commentary →They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.</strong> This brief, proverbial statement contrasts true worship (Jonah's prayer to Yahweh) with idolatry. "They that observe lying vanities" (<em>meshamerim havlei-shav</em>, מְשַׁמְּרִים הַבְלֵי־שָׁוְא) uses <em>shamar</em> (שָׁמַר), meaning to keep, guard, or observe—often used for keeping God's commandments. The irony: people "k...
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(8) **They that observe lying vanities.—**See Note, Psalm 31:6.
**Forsake their own mercy—***i.e.*, forfeit their own share of the covenant grace. In Psalm 37:28 it is said that Jehovah does not forsake his *chasîdim*; they, however, by forsaking Jehovah (Himself called Israel’s *mercy,* Psalm 144:2, margin) and His law (Psalm 89:30) can forfeit their *chesed* or covenant privilege.
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jonah's prayer climaxes with commitment and theological declaration: "But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD." The Hebrew <em>va'ani beqol todah ezbeach-lak asher nadarti ashallema yeshu'atah laYHWH</em> (וַאֲנִי בְּקוֹל תּוֹדָה אֶזְבְּחָה־לָּךְ אֲשֶׁר נָדַרְתִּי אֲשַׁלֵּמָה יְשׁוּעָתָה לַיהוָה) contains one of Scr...
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(9) **But I will.**—The prophet, however, is not among such. He has sinned, but is still a member of the covenant people, and by sacrifice can be formally restored to that favour which repentance has regained.
**Salvation is of the Lord.—**Or, *Deliverance is Jehovah’s.* (Comp. Psalm 3:8.)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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CHAPTER 47 Eze 47:1-23. Vision of the Temple Waters. Borders and Division of The land.
The happy fruit to the earth at large of God's dwelling with Israel in holy fellowship is that the blessing is no longer restricted to the one people and locality, but is to be diffused with comprehensive catholicity through the whole world. So the plant from the cedar of Lebanon is represented as gathering un...
Read full commentary →And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.</strong> This verse demonstrates God's sovereign command over all creation. The Hebrew <em>vayomer YHWH la-dag vayaqe et-Yonah el-hayabashah</em> (וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה לַדָּג וַיָּקֵא אֶת־יוֹנָה אֶל־הַיַּבָּשָׁה) shows God <em>speaking</em> to the fish—divine Word accomplishes His purposes. The verb <em>qo</em> (קוֹא...
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