Jonahchapter 2
10 verses · Jonah, by tradition · 8th century BC · The Twelve
Key verse
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,
It stands in I cried out of the belly of Sheol and he heard me, verses 1 to 2.
The chapter
Chapter summary
A psalm prayed from inside the fish, stitched almost entirely out of the Psalter. 'Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and thou heardest my voice.' He describes drowning as God's own doing ('all thy waves and thy billows passed over me') and finds in the worst moment the one act of faith the book has shown so far: 'I am cast out from before thine eyes; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.' Weeds wrapped about his head, the bars of the earth closing on him, and still: thou hast brought up my life from the pit. The prayer ends in the book's thesis: 'Salvation is of Jehovah.'
Context
Prophecy · Jonah · Jonah overview
The world behind this chapter
Jonah 2The history
This chapter is a psalm, not a narrative. It uses the vocabulary of Israel's temple songs, the deep, the floods, the weeds, the pit, Sheol, the holy temple, and reads like the prayers in the Psalter almost line for line.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Sheol in Hebrew thought was the realm of the dead, and Jonah says he cried "out of the belly of hell" and that God brought his life up from corruption. He is not describing discomfort. He is describing death.
"I will look again toward thy holy temple" is the detail that grounds it. Israelites prayed facing the temple in Jerusalem, Solomon had asked God to hear prayers made toward that house, and Daniel opened his windows toward it in Babylon. Jonah, in the sea, in the dark, orients himself the same way.
The prayer is almost entirely past tense. He thanks God for the rescue before he is on dry land, which is why it reads as a song rather than a plea.
The last line is the turn: "Salvation is of the LORD." That sentence, from a runaway prophet in the belly of a fish, is the theological center of the book.
What it meant to them
To Israel this said God's mercy reaches the bottom. Jonah was not rescued because he repented well; the fish was already prepared before he prayed.
It also set up the punchline of the whole book. The man who sings so beautifully about undeserved rescue is about to be furious that God gives the same thing to Nineveh.
Sources cited
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets
- Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (public domain)
Where the chapter sits
Jonah 2 falls in The fish and the prayer (chapters 2). Three days in the belly; the prayer from the depths; the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land.
The prayer from the depths. ‘Out of the belly of hell cried I.’
Before it: The flight, chapters 1. After it: The preaching, chapters 3.
The whole shape of Jonah→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. I cried out of the belly of Sheol and he heard mevv. 1-2
Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly: Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly turns the fish from an instrument of judgment into a closet of prayer, the psalm rising from inside the very punishment Jonah had asked for himself. His opening line, 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, uses the belly of hell as the natural word for the place of the dead and the deep alike, which the commentators read as poetic intensity rather than a claim about the fish's own nature. Gill and Henry both note that a prayer built almost entirely from the language of the Psalms argues Jonah carried the temple's own worship in memory long before the dark made him need it.
Jonah 2:1
“Then - (“And”) Jonah prayed, i. e., when the three days and nights were passed, he uttered this devotion. The word “prayed” includes thanksgiving, not petition only. It is said of Hannah that she “prayed” 1Sa 2:1; but her canticle is all one thanksgiving without a single petition. In this thanksgiving Jonah says how his prayers had been heard, but prays no more. God had delivered him from the sea, and be thanks God, in the fish’s belly, as undisturbed as in a Church or an oratory, secure that God, who had done so much, would fulfill the rest.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Jonah 2:1
“Faith enables Jonah now to feel this; just as the returning prodigal says of the Father, from whom he had wandered, "I will arise and go to my Father" (Lu 15:18). out of the fish's belly--Every place may serve as an oratory. No place is amiss for prayer. Others translate, "when (delivered) out of the fish's belly." English Version is better.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 2:2
“There is a hell in the other world, out of which there is no crying to God with any hope of being heard; but, whatever hell we may be in the belly of in this world, we may thence cry to God. When Christ lay, as Jonah, three days and three nights in the grave, though he prayed not, as Jonah did, yet his very lying there cried to God for poor sinners, and the cry was heard.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 2:2
“Out of the belly of hell - Among the Hebrews שאול sheol means the grave, any deep pit, the place of separate spirits, etc. Here the prophet represents himself as in the bottom of the sea; for so sheol must be understood in this place.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jonah 2:2
“But in this state of despair Jonah even gathered courage, and was able to retake himself directly to God. It was a wonderful and almost incredible example of faith. Let us then learn to weigh well what is here said; for when the Lord heavily afflicts us, it is then a legitimate and seasonable time for prayer.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
B. Cast into the deep, weeds wrapped about my head
1. (vv. 3-4)
Jonah 2:3
“Whatever deeps we are cast into, it is God that casts us into them, and he it is who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. He was cast into the midst of the seas--the heart of the seas (so the word is), and thence Christ borrows that Hebrew phrase, when he applies it to his own lying so long in the heart of the earth.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 2:4
Rather, I think, "Though cast out of Thy sight, I will still with the eye of faith once more look in prayer towards Thy temple at Jerusalem, whither, as Thy earthly throne, Thou hast desired Thy worshippers to direct their prayers."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Jonah 2:4
“I am cast out of thy sight - See Psa 31:22. Thy holy temple - Then Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the temple was standing.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas: credits the sailors' act to the Lord himself, Jonah naming God rather than the crew as the one who threw him in, since their hands only carried out what his own flight had already earned. The floods compassing him about, and every billow and wave passing over him, describe a drowning already underway, and yet in the middle of it he can still say, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple, hope stated in the same breath as the despair. Keil and Calvin both read the turn from thou hadst cast me to I will look again as the pivot of the whole psalm, judgment owned and hope kept within two verses of each other.
2. (vv. 5-6)
Jonah 2:5
“The waters compassed me about, even to the soul,.... Either when he was first cast into the sea, which almost suffocated him, and just ready to take away his life, could not breathe for them, as is the case of a man drowning; or these were the waters the fish drew into its belly, in such large quantities, that they compassed him about, even to the endangering of his life there.”
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 2:5
“If, however, any one imagine it impossible that men should survive for such a length of time, and that Elias was not caught up in the flesh, but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot, let him consider that Jonah, when he had been cast into the deep, and swallowed down into the whale's belly, was by the command of God again thrown out safe upon the land.”
Irenaeus· written before 202· Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
Jonah 2:5
“And this also is borrowed from David's complaint, Ps. lxix. The waters have come in unto my soul. When without are fightings it is no marvel that within are fears.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 2:6
“Compare Ps 18:7, "the foundations of the hills" (Ps 18:15). earth with her bars was about me--Earth, the land of the living, is (not "was") shut against me. for ever--so far as any effort of mine can deliver me. yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption--rather, "Thou bringest . . . from the pit" [MAURER].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 2:6
“Or, rather, we may suppose it spoken while he was yet in the fish's belly, and then it is the language of his faith: "Thou hast kept me alive here, in the pit, and therefore thou canst, thou wilt, bring up my life from the pit; " and he speaks of it with as much assurance as if it were done already: Thou has brought up my life.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 2:6
“I went down to the bottoms of the mountains - This also may be literally understood. The fish followed the slanting base of the mountains, till they terminated in a plain at the bottom of the great deep. The earth with her bars - He represents himself as a prisoner in a dungeon, closed in with bars which he could not remove, and which at first appeared to be for ever, i.e., the place where his life must terminate.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: , and the weeds wrapped about his head, place Jonah at the sea floor rather than merely tossed on its surface, the picture of a man already drowned rather than one still swimming. Going down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth's bars closing on him for ever, describes the grip of the place of the dead itself, and against that finality stands the one line that reverses it, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. Barnes and Wesley both read the bars of the earth as ordinary poetic language for the place of the dead rather than a claim about the fish's own anatomy, the miracle lying in the deliverance rather than in biology.
C. Salvation belongs to the LORD: and the fish lets him go
1. (v. 7)
Jonah 2:7
“For a time troubles shut out hope; but faith revived when Jonah "remembered the Lord," what a gracious God He is, and how now He still preserves his life and consciousness in his dark prison-house. into thine holy temple--the temple at Jerusalem (Jon 2:4). As there he looks in believing prayer towards it, so here he regards his prayer as already heard.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Jonah 2:7
"When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD." LXX: 'when my spirit failed in me, I remembered the Lord'. Although I hoped for no aid, he says, the memory of the Lord saved me, according to this passage: "I remembered the Lord and I rejoiced" [Ps. 76:4], and in another passage, "I remembered former days and I remembered the days of eternity" [Ps. 76:6]. I had lost all hope of finding a way out: my body was so frail in the intestines of the whale that I could not hope for my life.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 2patristic
Jonah 2:7
“When my sold fainted - , literally “was covered, within me,” was dizzied, overwhelmed. The word is used of actual faintness from heat, Jon 4:8. thirst, Amo 8:13. exhaustion, Isa 51:20. when a film comes over the eyes, and the brain is, as it were, mantled over. The soul of the pious never is so full of God, as when all things else fade from him. Jonah could not but have remembered God in the tempest; when the lots were east; when he adjudged himself to be east forth.”
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: marks the psalm's lowest point turning at once to its answer, the fainting and the remembering set in the same verse rather than separated by any further struggle. His prayer coming in unto the Lord, into his holy temple, repeats the phrase from verse four and binds the whole psalm to one address, a man physically inside a fish praying toward a building in Jerusalem he cannot see. Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown both read the doubled reference to the holy temple as Jonah's own claim on the promise that prayer made toward that place would be heard, the same promise Solomon asked for at its dedication.
2. (vv. 8-9)
Jonah 2:8
“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. They that worship idols, who are nothing, mere vanity and lies, and deceive those that serve them, these forsake the God of their lives, and of their mercies; and so do all such who serve divers lusts and pleasures, and pursue the vanities of this life; and also those who follow the dictates of carnal sense and reason, to the neglect of the will of God, and obedience to his commands; which was Jonah's case, and is, I think, chiefly intended.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jonah 2:8
“As the Psalmist (Ps 144:2) styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare Ps 59:17, "the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had "forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (idols) were worshipped.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jonah 2:9
"But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD." LXX: 'but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of praise and the action of thanksgiving. I will pay all that I have vowed to you, Lord, in salutation.' Those who keep their vanities have abandoned their mercy. But I who have been eaten for the sake of the safety of the multitude, will offer you sacrifices with the voice of praise and thanksgiving, offering myself.
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 2patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Jonah 2:9
“But (And) with the voice of thanksgiving will I (would I fain) sacrifice unto Thee; what I have vowed, I would pay - He does not say, I will, for it did not depend upon him. Without a further miracle of God, he could do nothing. But he says, that he would nevermore forsake God. The law appointed sacrifices of thanksgiving; Lev 7:12-15. these he would offer, not in act only, but with words of praise.”
Jonah 2:9
“His sin for which God pursued him was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, the folly of which he is now convinced of, and promises not only that he will never again look towards Tarshish, but that he will again look towards the temple, and will go from strength to strength till he appear before God there.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jonah 2:9
“So Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:21) appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained. God honors such confidence in Him. There is also herein a mark of sanctified affliction, that he vows amendment and thankful obedience (Ps 119:67).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy: turns from Jonah's own case to a general verdict on idolatry, the sailors' many gods at 1:5 standing behind the line as much as any future Ninevite altar. Against that vanity Jonah sets his own resolve, I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that that I have vowed, a vow made from inside the fish rather than after his rescue. The psalm's last line before deliverance, Salvation is of the Lord, compresses the entire book into four words, and Pusey and Henry both read it as Jonah's confession that his own attempt to run from the commission changed nothing about who does the saving.
3. (v. 10)
Jonah 2:10
"And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." LXX: 'and he ordered the whale to vomit Jonah out onto the dry land'. That which we read above as being about Jonah, the Lord prayed for in the stomach of the whale about which Job speaks in an unclear way: "let he who curses this day curse him, he who will capture the great whale" [Job. 3:8 LXX].
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 2patristic
And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land: ends the ordeal with the same directness that began it, the Lord who prepared the fish at 1:17 now commanding it to release him, the creature obedient to God's word where the prophet had not been. Dry land closes the chapter's water imagery entirely, Jonah delivered onto solid ground exactly where his voyage from Joppa had begun. Gill and Wesley both note that the text never records Jonah stepping out under his own strength, the deliverance as total and as undeserved as the punishment that came before it.
This page carries no textual note on Jonah 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
Keep studying
On this page
Studies2
On this chapter
On this book
People1
Words9
Trails1