Jonah 2:8
in Jonah 2Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They that regard lying vanities Forsake their own mercy.
KJV
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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This verse in Jonah 2
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThey 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.
This site's exposition
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
on Jonah 2:8-9
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets: Jonah · Written before 444.
proposed
When my soul was fainting within me, I remembered the Lord; and let my prayer come to you, into your holy temple. For those who wish to be well-pleasing, toil is not without profit, nor would affliction be considered burdensome. And the blessed David will bear witness, saying, "In my affliction I called upon the Lord;" and another of the holy prophets, "O Lord, in affliction we remembered you." And it seemed very fitting to the divine Paul to accept and praise affliction, that is, the affliction that happens for the sake of virtue. For he said, "Because affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame." So then, as the Prophet's soul was fainting, that is, enduring the toil that leads to danger and to the last extremities, something profitable was again being done. For not, as some, having immediately slipped into despondency, did he make a denunciation of the divine judgments, but he remembered the one who saves. For he cried out to him, he thirsted for help, not ignorant of his gentleness and the preeminence of his strength, he made his supplications to him, begging that his own life be delivered from death and corruption.
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." LXX: 'those that keep mistaken vanities lose their mercy'. By nature God is merciful and ready by his mildness to save those whom he can't save by justice. But because of our vices we lose the mercy which is reserved for us and is offered to us.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Symeon the New TheologianTHE PRACTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CHAPTERS 1:76 · Written before 1022.
proposed
When a person has completely abandoned the world, it seems to one that one is living in a remote desert, full of wild beasts. One is filled with unutterable fear and indescribable trembling, and cries to God like Jonah from the whale, from the sea …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Those that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, that is, (1.) Those that worship other gods, as the heathen mariners did, and call upon them, and expect relief and comfort from them, forsake their own mercy; they stand in their own light; they turn their back upon their own happiness, and go quite out of the way of all good.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
They - Whoever they are that depend upon idols. Mercy - The Lord, who is to all that depend upon him, the fountain of living waters; who is an eternal fountain of mercy, and flows freely to all that wait for him.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
They that observe lying vanities - They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They that observe lying vanities - , i. e., (by the force of the Hebrew form , that diligently watch, pay deference to, court, sue, “vanities of vanities,” vain things, which prove themselves vain at last, failing the hopes which trust in them. Such were actual idols, in which men openly professed that they trusted Such are all things in which men trust, out of God. One is not more vain than another. All have this common principle of vanity, that people look, out of God, to that which has its only existence or permanence from God. It is then one general maxim, including all people’s idols, idols of the flesh, idols of intellect, idols of ambition, idols of pride, idols of self and self-will. People “observe” them, as gods, watch them, hang upon them, never lose sight of them, guard them as though they could keep them. But what are they? “lying vanities,” breath and wind, which none can grasp or detain, vanishing like air into air. And what do they who so “observe” them? All alike “forsake their own mercy;” i. e., God, “Whose property is, always to have mercy,” and who would be mercy to them, if they would. So David calls God, “my mercy.” Psa 144:2. Abraham’s servant and Naomi praise God, that He “hath not forsaken His mercy” Gen 24:27; Rth 2:20. Jonah does not, in this, exclude himself. His own idol had been his false love for his country, that he would not have his people go into captivity, when God would; would not have Nineveh preserved, the enemy of his country; and by leaving his office, he left his God, “forsook” his “own mercy.” See how God speaks of Himself, as wholly belonging to them, who are His. He calls Himself “their own mercy” . He saith not, “they who” do “vanities,” (for Ecc 1:2. […]
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 2:13“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Revelation 21:6
And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
- Psalms 36:9
For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
- John 4:14
Through
2 Kings 17:15They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- Deuteronomy 32:21
They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will…
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
Through
1 Samuel 12:21Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:18
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Habakkuk 2:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jonah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets: Jonah; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Symeon the New Theologian, THE PRACTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CHAPTERS 1:76.