Jonah's Prayer from the Fish's Belly and Deliverance
Jonah 2:1-10
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Jon.2.1 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וימן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- דג: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גדול: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- לבלע: VERB,qal,inf
- את: PRT,acc
- יונה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ויהי: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- יונה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- במעי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הדג: NOUN,m,sg,def
- שלשה: NUM,m
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ושלשה: CONJ+NUM,card,pl,m
- לילות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Matthew 12:40 (quotation): Jesus explicitly cites Jonah’s three days and nights in the fish as a foreshadowing/sign for his own burial and resurrection — direct verbal and theological parallel.
- Luke 11:29-30 (allusion): Luke records the ‘‘sign of Jonah’’ motif (Jonah as a sign to Nineveh) used by Jesus to anticipate the Son of Man’s vindication after three days — an allusion to Jonah’s entombment in the fish.
- Matthew 16:4 (allusion): Jesus again refers to the ‘‘sign of Jonah’’ as the only sign to the generation, invoking Jonah’s three days in the fish as typological precedent for Christ’s sign.
- 1 Corinthians 15:4 (thematic): Paul’s emphasis that Christ was raised ‘‘on the third day’’ resonates with the three‑day period motif in Jonah, forming a thematic parallel between Jonah’s time in the fish and Christ’s death‑burial‑resurrection pattern.
- Psalm 69:2 (thematic): Imagery of drowning, being overwhelmed by deep waters and the pit (Sheol) in this psalm parallels the iconography of Jonah’s entrapment in the depths and being swallowed, linking experience of peril/near‑death and deliverance.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
- And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jon.2.2 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויתפלל: VERB,hitpael,imperfect,3,m,sg
- יונה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ממעי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,1,sg
- הדגה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Matthew 12:40 (quotation): Jesus explicitly cites Jonah’s experience of three days in the fish as a sign—direct New Testament quotation/allusion to Jonah’s confinement and prayer from the fish’s belly.
- Psalm 69:1-2 (thematic): The psalmist cries for rescue from overwhelming waters and danger (‘the waters are come in unto my soul’), paralleling Jonah’s distress and plea from the depths.
- Psalm 18:6 (2 Samuel 22:7) (verbal): Both describe crying out to the LORD in extreme peril—‘In my distress I called upon the LORD’—echoing Jonah’s act of praying to Yahweh from the fish’s belly.
- Jonah 1:17 (structural): Immediate narrative parallel within the book: Jonah’s being swallowed by the fish (1:17) sets the scene for the prayer recorded in 2:2–10, linking event and response.
Alternative generated candidates
- Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish.
- Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish.
Jon.2.3 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- קראתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- מצרה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- אל: NEG
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויענני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg,obj1cs
- מבטן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שאול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שועתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss1s
- שמעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- קולי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1
Parallels
- Psalm 18:6 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language—calling to the LORD in distress and God hearing from the depths—echoing Jonah’s cry from the pit/Sheol.
- 2 Samuel 22:7 (verbal): David’s psalm/song parallels the motif and wording of crying to God from distress and the depths, closely mirroring Jonah’s petition.
- Psalm 116:3-4 (thematic): Describes being trapped by death’s snares and crying to the LORD, who hears—thematically similar to Jonah’s deliverance plea from Sheol.
- Psalm 86:7 (verbal): Expresses the same trust that calling to God in trouble will be answered—verbal and theological parallel to Jonah’s statement that God heard his voice.
- Matthew 12:40 (allusion): Jesus alludes to Jonah’s time in the fish’s belly as a sign; connects to Jonah’s experience of being in the depths (Sheol/belly) and his cry to God.
Alternative generated candidates
- He said: "I cried out of my distress to the LORD, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice."
- I called out in my distress to the LORD, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
Jon.2.4 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ותשליכני: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg+OBJ,1,sg
- מצולה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בלבב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ונהר: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יסבבני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כל: DET
- משבריך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- וגליך: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- עברו: VERB,qal,imp,2,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 42:7 (verbal): Uses virtually the same imagery/phrasing: 'Deep calls to deep... all your waves and billows have gone over me' — a near-verbal echo of being overwhelmed by the sea's waves.
- Psalm 69:1-2 (thematic): Describes being overwhelmed by waters and sinking into deep mire ('Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul... I am come into deep waters'), echoing Jonah's complaint of the flood surrounding him.
- Psalm 18:4-6 (18:5-7 MT) (verbal): Speaks of cords/death and floods surrounding the psalmist and calling to God from the depths — language and motif closely parallel to Jonah's depiction of being cast into the deep and encompassed by waves.
- Lamentations 3:54-57 (thematic): Lament's speaker reports that 'waters flowed over my head' and cries out from the pit, reflecting the same motif of inundation and desperate prayer from beneath the waters.
- Matthew 12:40 (allusion): Jesus cites Jonah's three days in the fish as a sign; this New Testament allusion presupposes Jonah's descent into the sea and rescue (the very events described in Jonah 2:4), linking Jonah's experience to Jesus' own sign.
Alternative generated candidates
- You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas; the flood surrounded me, the current closed around me; all your breakers and your waves passed over me.
- You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas; the flood surrounded me, your breakers and your waves passed over me.
Jon.2.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואני: PRON,1,sg
- אמרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,com,sg
- נגרשתי: VERB,nifal,perf,1,c,sg
- מנגד: ADV
- עיניך: NOUN,f,pl,abs+2ms
- אך: PART
- אוסיף: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- להביט: INF,hiphil
- אל: NEG
- היכל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קדשך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2,ms
Parallels
- Psalm 51:11 (verbal): Jonah's sense of being cast away from God's sight echoes David's plea ‘Do not cast me away from your presence,’ a shared language about exclusion from God's presence.
- Psalm 139:7-10 (thematic): The psalm affirms God's presence everywhere (even in Sheol or the depths), paralleling Jonah's tension between feeling driven away and recognizing God's nearness in the deep.
- 1 Kings 8:29 (structural): In Solomon's temple-prayer he asks that God’s eyes be open toward the temple; Jonah likewise resolves to look again toward the 'holy temple,' linking personal turn to worship with the temple locus.
- Psalm 5:7 (verbal): The psalmist speaks of bowing or directing worship ‘toward your holy temple,’ language similar to Jonah’s resolve to look toward God’s sanctuary despite feeling cast off.
Alternative generated candidates
- I said, 'I am driven away from before your eyes; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
- And I said, 'I have been driven away from before your eyes; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
Jon.2.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אפפוני: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- עד: PREP
- נפש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תהום: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יסבבני: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- סוף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חבוש: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- לראשי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,poss:1,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 69:1-2 (verbal): Uses the same imagery and language—"the waters are come in unto my soul" and sinking in deep mire—echoing Jonah's cry of waters surrounding the speaker and overwhelming the life.
- Psalm 42:7 (verbal): "Deep calleth unto deep... all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me"—similar motif of the deep/waters surrounding and overwhelming the psalmist, paralleling Jonah's description of the depths and engulfing waters.
- 2 Samuel 22:5-7 (cf. Psalm 18:4-6) (thematic): David's depiction of being surrounded by waters, the sorrows of death, and the earth/Sheol closing round him parallels Jonah's image of the deep encircling and threatening life; similar poetic vocabulary and rescue theme.
- Jonah 1:17 (structural): Narrative context: Jonah is in the belly of the great fish after being thrown into the sea. Jonah 2:6's imagery of the deep and being wrapped (weeds about the head) is structurally tied to the preceding swallowing and confinement in the fish.
Alternative generated candidates
- The waters closed in over me to the point of death; the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped about my head.
- The waters closed in over me to the point of death; the deep encircled me; seaweed was wrapped about my head.
Jon.2.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לקצבי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,1s
- הרים: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- ירדתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ברחיה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,1s
- בעדי: PREP+1,sg
- לעולם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ותעל: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- משחת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- חיי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
Parallels
- Psalm 18:6 (verbal): LXX/Hebrew parallel: in distress the psalmist cries to the LORD and his cry/voice is heard out of God's temple — closely echoes Jonah's 'I remembered the LORD; my prayer came into thy holy temple.'
- Lamentations 3:55-57 (verbal): The speaker calls on the LORD out of the lowest pit and is heard; parallels Jonah's motif of crying from the depths and the prayer reaching God.
- Psalm 116:1-4 (thematic): Describes calling on the LORD in distress, being heard, and the psalmist's remembrance/thanksgiving — thematically similar to Jonah's recollection of the LORD and upward movement of prayer.
- Jonah 2:2 (structural): Immediate intra-book parallel: earlier in the same psalm-like prayer Jonah recounts crying out from the belly of Sheol and God hearing him; verse 7 continues the same sequence (fainting, remembrance, prayer reaching the temple).
Alternative generated candidates
- I went down to the roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed forever upon me— yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
- I went down to the roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed me in forever—yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
Jon.2.8 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- בהתעטף: VERB,hitpael,perf,3,f,sg
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- נפשי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+1cs
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- זכרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,na,sg
- ותבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- אליך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- תפלתי: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss1s
- אל: NEG
- היכל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קדשך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2,ms
Parallels
- Psalm 18:6 (verbal): Very close verbal parallel: the psalmist cries to the LORD in distress and says God heard his voice out of his temple — ‘my cry came before him, even into his ears,’ echoing Jonah’s ‘my prayer came to your holy temple.’
- 2 Samuel 22:7 (quotation): This passage is the parallel/duplicate of Psalm 18 in the song of deliverance (David’s song); it repeats the language of calling in distress and the cry reaching God’s temple, aligning with Jonah’s prayer imagery.
- Psalm 77:1–2 (thematic): Both texts depict a desperate cry to God in deep trouble and the act of remembering the LORD in the midst of distress; Psalm 77 also combines sea/deep imagery with seeking God’s help, resonating with Jonah’s situation in the depths.
- Psalm 42:7 (thematic): ‘Deep calls to deep’ and the imagery of overwhelming waters in Psalm 42 thematically parallels Jonah’s experience of the deep and his cry to God from the watery abyss, underscoring the motif of distress and divine hearing.
Alternative generated candidates
- When my life fainted within me I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
- When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
Jon.2.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- משמרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- הבלי: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- שוא: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חסדם: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,pl
- יעזבו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 31:6 (verbal): Uses almost the same wording—condemns those who regard 'lying vanities' and contrasts their fate with trust in the LORD; close verbal and thematic echo of Jonah's line about vanities and forsaking mercy.
- Jeremiah 2:13 (thematic): Speaks of Israel forsaking the 'fountain of living waters' for broken cisterns (vain things); thematically parallels the idea that pursuing vanities results in abandoning God's sustaining mercy.
- Isaiah 44:9–20 (allusion): A sustained polemic against idols as 'vanity' and 'lies' and the folly of trusting them; provides a broader prophetic background for condemning 'lying vanities' in Jonah.
- Psalm 115:4–8 (thematic): Portrays idols as powerless vanities and those who trust them as sharing their worthlessness; thematically echoes Jonah's charge that regarding vain things entails forfeiting true help/mercy.
Alternative generated candidates
- Those who cling to worthless idols forsake steadfast love.
- Those who cling to worthless idols abandon faithful love.
Jon.2.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ואני: PRON,1,sg
- בקול: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תודה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אזבחה: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- אשר: PRON,rel
- נדרתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- אשלמה: VERB,qal,impf,1,c,sg
- ישועתה: NOUN,f,sg+PRON,3,sg
- ליהוה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Psalm 116:17 (verbal): Nearly identical language: 'I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving; I will pay my vows unto the LORD' — same vow/thanksgiving formula as Jonah's declaration.
- Psalm 50:14 (verbal): Commands offering 'thanksgiving' and paying vows to God ('Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High'), echoing Jonah's pledge to sacrifice and fulfill his vow.
- Psalm 107:22 (thematic): Speaks of offering 'sacrifices of thanksgiving' and declaring God's works with joy, paralleling Jonah's vow to give thanks with sacrifice following deliverance.
- Psalm 3:8 (verbal): Contains the same theological affirmation 'Salvation belongeth unto the LORD' (or 'Salvation is of the LORD'), which Jonah cites as the basis for his thanksgiving and vow.
Alternative generated candidates
- And I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD.
- But with the voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you; that which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD.
And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish.
He said, 'In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.'
You hurled me into the deep, into the heart of the seas; the flood encircled me; all your breakers and your waves passed over me. But I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'
The waters closed over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped about my head.
To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth with its bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Those who cling to worthless idols forsake their steadfast love. And I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will fulfill what I vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD.