Jonah 2:8 - Exposition

Jonah contrasts the joy and comfort arising from the thought of God with the miserable fate of idolaters. They that observe ( Psalms 31:6 ); court, pay deference to, reverence. Lying vanities; Septuagint, μάταια καὶ ψευδῆ , "vain things and false." Idom (comp. Jeremiah 18:15 ; Hosea 12:11 ; 1 Corinthians 8:4 ). Their own mercy; i.e. their state of favour with God—the mercy shown to them, as "the mercies of [shown to] David" ( Isaiah 55:3 ); or God himself, the Fountain of mercy and goodness ( Psalms 144:2 ). Henderson translates, "forsake their Benefactor."