Jonah 1:5

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 1:5

The mariners ( mallachim ). Those who have to do with the salt sea. The word is used by Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 27:9 , Ezekiel 27:27 , Ezekiel 27:29 ). Cried every man unto his god. They were either Phoenicians from different localities, or men of various nations; hence the multiplicity of their gods. The heathen are represented throughout the book as devout and sincere according to their lights. They cast forth the wares; Septuagint, ἐκβολὴν ἐποήσαντο τῶν σκευῶν , "cast... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jonah 1:5

And cried, every man unto his God - They did what they could. “Not knowing the truth, they yet know of a Providence, and, amid religious error, know that there is an Object of reverence.” In ignorance they had received one who offended God. And now God, “whom they ignorantly worshiped” Acts 17:23, while they cried to the gods, who, they thought, disposed of them, heard them. They escaped with the loss of their wares, but God saved their lives and revealed Himself to them. God hears ignorant... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jonah 1:4-5

Jonah 1:4-5. But the Lord sent out a great wind The extraordinary greatness of it, with the suddenness of its rising, and the terrible effects it was likely to produce, showed that it was supernatural, and came from God, displeased with all, or with some one in the ship. Then the mariners were afraid As they had great reason to be, since this preternatural tempest fell upon them with such great violence; and cried every man unto his god To their several idols, as being heathen and... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jonah 1:1-17

1:1-17 JONAH’S DISOBEDIENCE AND ITS RESULTSWhen God commanded Jonah to go and warn the sinful people of Nineveh of coming judgment, Jonah not only refused but fled in the opposite direction. He boarded a ship and headed for the distant Mediterranean port of Tarshish, somewhere in the region of Spain (1:1-3). But God determined to bring Jonah back. His first action was to send a fierce storm that threatened to sink the ship. The seamen, who were not Hebrews, prayed to their gods to save them,... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Jonah 1:5

mariners = salts. Hebrew. mallach = salt. cried = cried in prayer. Hebrew. keli , Not the same word as in verses: Jonah 1:2 , Jonah 1:14 . every man. Hebrew. 'ish . App-14 . wares = tackling. Hebrew. keli = implements. into the sides = below deck, or cabins. Compare Ezekiel 32:23 .Amos 6:10 . ship = the deck, or covered part. Hebrew sephinah. A genuine Hebrew word, borrowed by inland people, (Syrians. Chaldeans and Arabians), from a maritime people; not vice versa. Hebrew root saphan... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Jonah 1:5

"Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep."(See under Jonah 1:3, above, for comments concerning the word for ship as used in this verse.)The word for "mariners" here means "salts," that is sailors of the salt seas; they are usually thought to have been Phoenicians engaged in the corn trade... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jonah 1:5

Jonah 1:5. And cried every man unto his god— The mariners were idolaters, as appears from the next verse. They invoked each one his idol, or the tutelary deity of his country. The profound sleep of Jonah seems to have been caused by his weariness, labour, and anxiety; "Not the sleep of security, but of sorrow," says St. Jerome; like that of the apostles, Matthew 26:40. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Jonah 1:5

5. mariners were afraid—though used to storms; the danger therefore must have been extreme. cried every man unto his god—The idols proved unable to save them, though each, according to Phoelignician custom, called on his tutelary god. But Jehovah proved able: and the heathen sailors owned it in the end by sacrificing to Him (Jonah 1:16). into the sides—that is, the interior recesses (compare 1 Samuel 24:3; Isaiah 14:13; Isaiah 14:15). Those conscious of guilt shrink from the presence of their... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:4-6

B. Jonah’s lack of compassion 1:4-6 read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:5

The sailors were of mixed religious convictions. Some of them were probably Phoenicians, since Phoenicians were commonly seafaring traders. Phoenicia was a center of Baal worship then. The sailors’ willingness to throw their cargo into the sea illustrates the extreme danger they faced (cf. Acts 27:18-20).Jonah’s ability to sleep under such conditions seems very unusual. The same Hebrew word (radam) describes Sisera’s deep sleep that his exhaustion produced (Judges 4:21) and the deep sleep that... read more

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