Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jonah 2:1-9

God and his servant Jonah had parted in anger, and the quarrel began on Jonah's side; he fled from his country that he might outrun his work; but we hope to see them both together again, and the reconciliation begins on God's side. In the close of the foregoing chapter we found God returning to Jonah in a way of mercy, delivering him from going down to the pit, having found a ransom; in this chapter we find Jonah returning to God in a way of duty; he was called up in the former chapter to pray... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jonah 2:7

When my soul fainted within me ,.... Covered with grief; overwhelmed with sorrow; ready to faint and sink at the sight of his sins; and under a sense of the wrath and displeasure of God, and being forsaken by him: I remembered the Lord ; his covenant and promises, his former mercies and lovingkindness, the gracious experiences he had had of these in times past; he remembered he was a God gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive, healed the backslidings of his people, and still loved... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 2:7

When my soul fainted - When I had given up all hope of life. My prayer came in unto thee - Here prayer is personified, and is represented as a messenger going from the distressed, and entering into the temple of God, and standing before him. This is a very fine and delicate image. This clause is one of those which I suppose the prophet to have added when he penned this prayer. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 2:7

Verse 7 Here Jonah comprehends in one verse what he had previously said, — that he had been distressed with the heaviest troubles, but that he had not yet been so cast down in his mind, as that he had no prospect of God’s favor to encourage him to pray. He indeed first confesses that he had suffered some kind of fainting, and that he had been harassed by anxious and perplexing thoughts, so as not to be able by his own efforts to disengage himself. As to the word עטף, otheph, it means in Hebrew... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 2:1-7

De profundis: distress and prayer. "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly," etc. Unexampled position of Jonah—no details given, and hints somewhat obscure; evidently he retained measure of consciousness, but for how long we know not—seems to have been conscious of moving through the water before being swallowed by the fish—miracle of his preservation corresponds to that of the three Hebrews in the furnace ( Daniel 3:27 ), or of the burning bush ( Exodus 3:2 , ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 2:1-9

1 . Jonah, in the belly of the fish, offers a prayer of thanksgiving for his rescue from death by drowning, in which he sees a pledge of further deliverance. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 2:2-10

Triumph, thanksgiving. "And said, 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," etc. This is one of the most striking instances in all Scripture of the benefit of believing prayer. "Lord, what a change within us one short hour Spent in thy presence will prevail to make! What heavy burdens from our bosom take! What parched lands refresh as with a shower! We kneel, and all around us seems to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 2:5-10

Deliverance waiting on the assured hope of it. It is an obvious remark that all men are ingenuous with God. There is no thought of trying to mislead his judgment or escape his lidless eye. They know that he knows them, knows them truly, knows them thoroughly. Accordingly, when religious profession is false and religious converse is suppressive, and other religious acts are hollow and formal, secret prayer, if it be, offered at all, is both honest and open. Only tell us what a man says into... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jonah 2:7

His prayer was heard. When my soul fainted within me; literally, was covered —referring, says Pusey, to that physical exhaustion when a film comes over the eyes, and the brain is mantled over. The clause is from Psalms 142:3 or Psalms 143:4 . I remembered the Lord. That was his salvation ( Psalms 119:55 ). He turned in thought to thine holy temple ( Psalms 143:4 ), the sanctuary where God's presence was most assured, like the psalmist in the wilderness ( Psalms 63:2 ). or... read more

Group of Brands