Jonas 2:1-8

1 Now the Lord had commanded a great whale to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.

2 And Jonas prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the whale,

3 and said, I cried in my affliction to the Lord my God, and he hearkened to me, to my cry out of the belly of hell: thou heardest my voice.

4 Thou didst cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the floods compassed me: all thy billows and thy waves have passed upon me.

5 And I said, I am cast out of thy presence: shall I indeed look again toward thy holy temple?

6 Water was poured around me to the soul: the lowest deep compassed me, my head went down

7 to the clefts of the mountains; I went down into the earth, whose bars are the everlasting barriers: yet, O Lord my God, let my ruined life be restored.

8 When my soul was failing me, I remembered the Lord; and may my prayer come to thee into thy holy temple.

Jonas 2:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 2

This chapter contains the prayer of Jonah, when in the fish's belly; the time when he prayed, the person he prayed unto, and the place where, are suggested in Jon 2:1; and the latter described as a place of great straitness and distress, and even as hell itself, Jon 2:2; The condition he was in, when cast into the sea, and when in the belly of the fish, which is observed, the more to heighten the greatness of the deliverance, Jon 2:3-6. The different frame of mind he was in, sometimes almost in despair, and ready to faint; and presently exercising faith and hope, remembering the goodness of the Lord, and resolving to look again to him, Jon 2:4,7. The gracious regards of God to him, in receiving, hearing, and answering his prayer, and bringing up his life from corruption, Jon 2:2,6,7. His resolution, let others do what they would, to praise the Lord, and give him the glory of his salvation, Jon 2:8,9; and the chapter is concluded with the order for his deliverance, and the manner of it, Jon 2:10.

Footnotes

• [a]. last.
• [b]. from me.