Jonah 2:2-3

2. I cried… he heard R.V., “I called… he answered.” The tenses indicate that both the petition and the reply are experiences of the past (Jonah 2:6).

By reason of mine affliction Better, R.V. margin, “out of mine affliction”; which is further described in 3ff.

Belly of hell R.V., “Sheol.” On the latter see on Hosea 13:14. It is frequently pictured as a ravenous beast, with a greedy appetite (Proverbs 30:16; Habakkuk 2:5), with a wide-open mouth (Isaiah 5:14). Here a belly is given to it, which may have been suggested by the belly of the fish. As in Psalms 18:5; Psalms 30:3, Sheol is a poetic picture for the dangers of death, from which there seems no escape. With 2a compare Psalms 120:1, or Psalms 18:6; with Jonah 2:2 b compare Psalms 18:5.

Jonah 2:3 describes the affliction from which came deliverance.

For thou hadst cast Literally, And thou didst cast. This can hardly be interpreted as giving the reason for the thanksgiving. Better, Yea, thou didst cast. This is a perfectly possible translation. It certainly is not necessary to suppose that a clause has dropped out. In the case of Jonah, Jehovah was the real author of the calamity (Jonah 1:14; compare also Jonah 1:4, and the references there).

Deep,… midst of the seas;… floods… billows… waves Taken in connection with the experiences of Jonah these terms might all be interpreted literally. On the other hand, in the psalm literature, these or similar terms are used figuratively of the depths of trouble and distress. The “midst (R.V., “heart”) of the seas” (for plural compare G.-K., 124a), which defines “deep,” is the bottom of the sea (Exodus 15:5; Micah 7:19).

Floods Literally, river; the currents of the sea (Psalms 24:2).

Thy Jehovah made them (Jonah 1:9) and controls them (Psalms 18:4-5). For the last clause compare especially Psalms 42:7.