Jonah2

American Standard Version · Public Domain

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¹Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish’s belly.

²And he said, I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, And thou heardest my voice.

³For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, And the flood was round about me; All thy waves and thy billows passed over me.

⁴And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

⁵The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; The deep was round about me; The weeds were wrapped about my head.

⁶I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed upon me for ever: Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God.

⁷When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.

⁸They that regard lying vanities Forsake their own mercy.

⁹But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of Jehovah.

¹⁰And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

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Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Jonah 2.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The prayer of Jonah. (1–9). He is delivered from the fish. (10).

vv1-9

Observe when Jonah prayed. When he was in trouble, under the tokens of God's displeasure against him for sin: when we are in affliction we must pray. Being kept alive by miracle, he prayed. A sense of God's good-will to us, notwithstanding our offences, opens the lips in prayer, which were closed with the dread of wrath. Also, where he prayed; in the belly of the fish. No place is amiss for prayer. Men may shut us from communion with one another, but not from communion with God. To whom he prayed; to the Lord his God. This encourages even backsliders to return. What his prayer was. This seems to relate his experience and reflections, then and afterwards, rather than to be the form or substance of his prayer. Jonah reflects on the earnestness of his prayer, and God's readiness to hear and answer. If we would get good by our troubles, we must notice the hand of God in them. He had wickedly fled from the presence of the Lord, who might justly take his Holy Spirit from him, never to visit him more. Those only are miserable, whom God will no longer own and favour. But though he was perplexed, yet not in despair. Jonah reflects on the favour of God to him, when he sought to God, and trusted in him in his distress. He warns others, and tells them to keep close to God. Those who forsake their own duty, forsake their own mercy; those who run away from the work of their place and day, run away from the comfort of it. As far as a believer copies those who observe lying vanities, he forsakes his own mercy, and lives below his privileges. But Jonah's experience encourages others, in all ages, to trust in God, as the God of salvation.

v10

Jonah's deliverance may be considered as an instance of God's power over all the creatures. As an instance of God's mercy to a poor penitent, who in distress prays to him: and as a type and figure of Christ's resurrection. Amidst all our varying experiences, and the changing scenes of life; we should look by faith, fixedly, upon our once suffering and dying, but now risen and ascended Redeemer. Let us confess our sins, consider Christ's resurrection as an earnest of our own, and thankfully receive every temporal and spiritual deliverance, as the pledge of our eternal redemption.

Key Words

JonahH3124Hebrew

יוֹנָה: Jonah, an Israelite

prayedH6419Hebrew

פָּלַל: to judge (officially or mentally); by extension, to intercede, pray

GodH430Hebrew

אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative

bellyH4578Hebrew

מֵעֶה: used only in plural the intestines, or (collectively) the abdomen, figuratively, sympathy; by implication, a vest; by extension the stomach, the uterus (or of men, the seat of generation), the heart (figuratively)

fishH1710Hebrew

דָּגָה: {a fish (often used collectively)}

sayingH559Hebrew

אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)

calledH7121Hebrew

קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)

distressH6869Hebrew

צָרָה: tightness (i.e. figuratively, trouble); transitively, a female rival:

answeredH6030Hebrew

עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce

bellyH990Hebrew

בֶּטֶן: the belly, especially the womb; also the bosom or body of anything