Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 2:3

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.

3. hadst cast ] There is no pluperf. tense in the Heb. language. There is no need, however, here to depart from the more literal rendering castedst or didst cast, R.V. See note on Jon 2:1.

the deep ] The same word is used (in the plur.) literally of Pharaoh and his host, Exo 15:5, “They sank into the bottom,” and metaphorically, Mic 7:19.

the floods ] Lit., the river. Used of the current or flowing of the sea. “And the flowing (of the sea) surrounds me.” Gesenius: ‘das strmen.’ The same word occurs in the same sense, Psa 24:2.

All thy billows, &c.] Lit., “ all Thy breakers and Thy long rolling waves.” Comp. “Quanti montes volvuntur aquarum.” Ovid. Trist. 1. ii. 19. The whole clause occurs again in Psa 42:7, though there it is used metaphorically and here literally; or rather, to the metaphorical sense is here superadded the literal. For by calling them “ Thy ” breakers and waves, Jonah shews that to him, as to the Psalmist, the sense of God’s punishment and displeasure was the soul of his affliction.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For Thou hadst (didst) cast me into the deep – Jonah continues to describe the extremity of peril, from which God had already delivered him. Sweet is the memory of perils past. For they speak of Gods Fatherly care. Sweet is it, to the prophet to tell God of His mercies; but this is sweet only to the holy, for Gods mercy convicts the careless of ingratitude. Jonah then tells God, how He had cast him vehemently forth into the eddying depth, where, when Pharaohs army sank like a stone (Exo 15:5, add Exo 15:10), they never rose, and that, in the heart or center of the seas, from where no strong swimmer could escape to shore. The floods or flood, (literally river,) the sea with its currents, surrounded him, encompassing him on all sides; and, above, tossed its multitudinous waves, passing over him, like an army trampling one prostrate underfoot. Jonah remembered well the temple psalms, and, using their words, united himself with those other worshipers who sang them, and taught us how to speak them to God. The sons of Korah Psa 42:7. had poured out to God in these self-same words the sorrows which oppressed them. The rolling billows and the breakers , which, as they burst upon the rocks, shiver the vessel and crush man, are, he says to God, Thine, fulfilling Thy will on me.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.] This may be understood literally; while the fish, in whose belly he was, sought its pleasure or sustenance in the paths of the deep, the waves and billows of the sea were rolling above. This line seems borrowed from Ps 42:7.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For: this introduceth the account of his distress, mentioned Jon 2:2.

Thou, the Almighty, offended by my frowardness and obstinacy,

hadst cast me into the deep; though the mariners hands heaved me overboard, it was thy hand that did it, and pressed me sore. The deep; the bottom of the sea: by what follows it is probable Jonah was cast into the sea far from shore.

In the midst of the seas, or heart of the seas, but more literally and strictly in the midst of the seas, than that Eze 27:4.

The floods; either the mighty rivers which run into that sea, or the floods, the mighty currents, which the rolling sea and winds with tide made.

All thy billows and thy waves passed over me; the surges of the sea, which explains what before he called the floods. Here is an elegant description of the violence and horror of the seas into which Jonah was cast, which tossed his body, and signified the terrors wherewith his soul was distressed from Gods immediate hand, as Psa 42:7.

Thy waves: Jonah seeth Gods hand and sovereignty in all this, intimating that he prayed for what he knew his God could do for him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. thou hadst cast . . . thy billows. . . thy wavesJonah recognizes the source whence hissufferings came. It was no mere chance, but the hand of Godwhich sent them. Compare Job’s similar recognition of God’s hand incalamities, Job 1:21; Job 2:10;and David’s, 2Sa 16:5-11.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas,…. Though the mariners did this, yet Jonah ascribes it to the Lord; he knew it was he, whom he had sinned against and offended; that he was he that sent the storm after him into the sea; that determined the lot to fall upon him; that it was not only by his permission, but according to his will, that he should be east into it, and overcame the reluctance of the men to it, and so worked upon them that they did it; and therefore Jonah imputes it to him, and not to them; nor does he complain of it, or murmur at it; or censure it as an unrighteous action, or as hard, cruel, and severe; but rather mentions it to set off the greatness of his deliverance: and by this it appears, that it was far from shore when Jonah was cast into the sea, it was the great deep; and which also is confirmed by the large fish which swallowed him, which could, not swim but in deep waters; and because of the multitude of the waters, called “seas”, and “in the heart” c of them, as it may be rendered; and agreeably Christ the antitype of Jonah lay in the heart of the earth, Mt 12:40;

and the floods compassed me about; all thy billows and thy waves passed over me; which was his case as soon as cast into the sea, before the fish had swallowed him, as well as after: this was literally true of Jonah, what David says figuratively concerning his afflictions, and from whom the prophet seems to borrow the expressions, Ps 42:7; and indeed he might use them also in a metaphorical sense, with a view to the afflictions of body, and sorrows of death, that compassed him; and to the billows and waves of divine wrath, which in his apprehension lay upon him, and rolled over him.

c “in corde”, V. L. Cocceius; “in cor”, Montanus, Drusius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

3 Thou castedst me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,

And the stream surrounded me;

All Thy billows and Thy waves went over me.

4 Then I said, I am thrust away from Thine eyes,

Yet I will look again to Thy holy temple.

The more minute description of the peril of death is attached by Vav consec., to express not sequence in time, but sequence of thought. Jehovah cast him into the depth of the sea, because the seamen were merely the executors of the punishment inflicted upon him by Jehovah. M e tsulah , the deep, is defined by “the heart of the seas” as the deepest abyss of the ocean. The plural yammm (seas) is used here with distinct significance, instead of the singular, “into the heart of the sea ” ( yam ) in Exo 15:8, to express the idea of the boundless ocean (see Dietrich, Abhandlung zur hebr. Grammatik, pp. 16, 17). The next clauses are circumstantial clauses, and mean, so that the current of the sea surrounded me, and all the billows and waves of the sea, which Jehovah had raised into a storm, went over me. Nahar , a river or stream, is the streaming or current of the sea, as in Psa 24:2. The words of the second hemistich are a reminiscence of Psa 42:8. What the Korahite singer of that psalm had experienced spiritually, viz., that one wave of trouble after another swept over him, that had the prophet literally experienced. Jonah “does not say, The waves and the billows of the sea went over me; but Thy waves and Thy billows, because he felt in his conscience that the sea with its waves and billows was the servant of God and of His wrath, to punish sin” (Luther). Jon 2:4 contains the apodosis to Jon 2:3: “When Thou castedst me into the deep, then I said (sc., in my heart, i.e., then I thought) that I was banished from the sphere of Thine eyes, i.e., of Thy protection and care.” These words are formed from a reminiscence of Psa 31:23, being substituted for the of the psalm. The second hemistich is attached adversatively. , which there is no necessity to alter into = , as Hitzig supposes, introduces the antithesis in an energetic manner, like elsewhere, in the sense of nevertheless, as in Isa 14:15; Psa 49:16; Job 13:15 (cf. Ewald, 354, a). The thought that it is all over with him is met by the confidence of faith that he will still look to the holy temple of the Lord, that is to say, will once more approach the presence of the Lord, to worship before Him in His temple, – an assurance which recals Psa 5:8.

The thought that by the grace of the Lord he has been once more miraculously delivered out of the gates of death, and brought to the light of the world, is carried out still further in the following strophe, in entirely new turns of thought.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

In this verse are set forth his difficulties: for Jonah, for the sake of amplifying, refers to his condition. It was a great thing that he cried to God from the bowels of the fish; but it was far more difficult for him to raise up his mind in prayer, when he knew or thought God to be angry with him: for had he been thrown into extreme evils, he might yet call upon God; but as it came to his mind that all the evil he suffered was inflicted by God, because he tried to shun his call, how was it possible for him to penetrate into heaven when such an obstacle stood in his way? We hence see the design of these words, But thou hadst cast me into the gulf, into the heart of the sea; the flood surrounded me, all thy billows and waves passed over me.

In short, Jonah shows here what dreadful temptations presented themselves to him while he was endeavoring to offer up prayers. It came first to his mind that God was his most inveterate enemy. For Jonah did not then think of the sailors and the rest who had cast him into the sea; but his mind was fixed on God: this is the reason why he says, Thou, Lord, hadst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea; and then, Thy billows, Thy waves (38) He does not here regard the nature of the sea; but he bestows, as I have already said, all his thoughts on God, and acknowledges that he had to do with him; as though he said, “Thou Lord, in pursuing me, drivest me away; but to thee do I come: thou showest by dreadful proofs that thou art offended with me, but yet I seek thee; so far is it that these terrors drive me to a distance from thee, that now, being subdued as it were by thy goads, I come willingly to thee; for nowhere else is there for me any hope of deliverance.” We now then see how much avails the contrast, when Jonah sets the terrible punishment which he endured in opposition to his prayer. Let us now proceed —

(38) “He calls them God’s billows and his waves, not because he made and rules them, but because he had now commissioned them against Jonah, and ordered them to afflict and terrify, but not to destroy him. These words are plainly quoted by Jonah from Psa 42:7. What David spoke figuratively and metaphorically, Jonah applies to himself as literally fulfilled.” — M. Henry.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) Hadst cast.Rather, didst cast. (See Psa. 88:6.)

Floods.Literally, river, used here of the ocean currents. (Comp. Psa. 24:2.)

All thy billows and thy waves.More exactly, all thy breakers and billows. (See Psa. 42:7, where the same expression is used figuratively for great danger and distress.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

“For you cast me into the depth,

In the heart of the seas,

And the flood was round about me,

All your waves and your billows passed over me.”

His remembrance of his experience was vivid. He had been cast into the heart of the sea, and had felt as though he was being swallowed up by the sea, almost as though he had been in his grave, with the waters sweeping over him. Note his emphasis on the fact that it was YHWH Who had done this to him, and that it was His waves and billows which passed over him. YHWH had been with him in all that had happened.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jon 2:3 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.

Ver. 3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep ] A graphic description of his woeful condition, which yet he remembereth now as waters that are past, and is thankful to his Almighty deliverer: see the like in David, Psa 116:3 , and learn of these and other saints to acknowledge the uttermost extremity of a calamity after we are delivered out of it. For hereby thy judgment will be the better instructed and the more convinced; thine heart also will be the more enlarged to admire, and thy mouth the wider opened to celebrate the power, wisdom, and mercy of God in thy deliverance. As if this be not done, God will be provoked either to inflict heavier judgments, or else to cease to smite thee any more with the stripes of a father, and to give thee up for a lost child.

For thou hadst cast me into the deep ] Not the mariners, but thou didst it, and therefore there was no averting or avoiding it. Thou hadst cast me with a force, as a stone out of a sling, or as that mighty angel, Rev 18:21 , that took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence,” &c.

In the midst of the seas ] Heb. in the heart of the seas; so Mat 12:40 , “So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” And Deu 4:11 , we read of the heart of heaven, that is, the middle of it, as the heart sitteth in the midst of the body as king of that Isle of Man. Now, if it were so grievous to be cast into the main sea, what shall it be to be hurled into hell by such a hand, and with such a force into that bottomless gulf, whence nothing was ever yet buoyed up again?

And the floods compassed me about ] Aquarum confluges, the sea, whence all floods or rivers issue, and whereto they return (Homer calleth the ocean , a river, by the figure meiosis, a P . Iliad. xiv.). Danaeus here noteth that out of that gulf of the sea, which of Plato is called Tartarus, that is, hell, the waters do flow into the veins of the earth (as it is, Ecc 1:7 ), losing their saltness in the passage. Here Jonah cried out, as Psa 69:1-2 , “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into the deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” It was only his faith that held him up by the chin; and, like blown feathers, bore him aloft all waters.

All thy billows and thy waves passed over me ] All; so it seemed to Jonah, that God had poured out all his displeasure upon him; but he suffereth not his whole wrath to arise against his people; neither remembereth iniquity for ever. Thy billows or surges; not the sea’s, but thine. God seemed to fight against Jonah with his own hand. David likewise in a desertion complains that all God’s waves and floods were gone over him, Psa 42:7 . In this case (for it may be any one’s case) let us do as Paul and his company did (in that dismal tempest, Act 27:20 , when they saw neither sun nor star for many days and nights together), cast anchor of hope, even beyond hope; and then wait and wish for day. God will appear at length, and all shall clear up; he will deliver our souls from the nethermost hell.

a A figure of speech by which the impression is intentionally conveyed that a thing is less in size, importance, etc., than it really is. D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

thou: Jon 1:12-16, Psa 69:1, Psa 69:2, Psa 69:14, Psa 69:15, Psa 88:5-8, Lam 3:54

midst: Heb. heart

all: Psa 42:7

Reciprocal: Gen 8:2 – fountains Job 22:11 – abundance Job 27:20 – Terrors Psa 86:13 – and thou Psa 88:7 – with Psa 93:3 – The floods Psa 116:3 – sorrows Lam 3:39 – a man Luk 22:44 – being

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jon 2:3. Jonah had told the men to cast him into the sea. but here he says the Lord did it. This is a reason for the remarks on chapter 1: 12, showing that Jonah gave his instructions to the men on the authority of God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jonah saw God’s disciplinary hand behind the sailors who had only been His tools in casting the prophet into the sea (cf. Psa 88:6-7). He also acknowledged that the sea belonged to God (cf. Jon 1:9). Evidently the waves overwhelmed him many times before the fish swallowed him (cf. Psa 42:7).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)