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Jonah

About this book

Jonah’s Prayer

Chapter 2

1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish⁠

2 and said, “I called out to the Lord from my distress, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help,⁠ and you heard my prayer. 3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me.⁠ 4 I thought I had been banished from your sight and that I would never again see your holy temple.⁠

The Ninevites Repent and God Forgives

5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.⁠ 6 I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains; the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever,⁠ but you brought me up from the Pit,⁠ O Lord, my God.⁠ 7 When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the Lord. And my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.⁠ 8 Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.⁠ 9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise; I will surely do what I have promised.⁠ Salvation belongs to the Lord!”⁠

Jonah Returns to Dry Land

10 Then the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah out onto dry land.

Continue to Micah

Texts in conversation

Compare Jonah 2:3 and Jonathan Jonah 2:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In the Hebrew version of Jonah, the prophet is overwhelmed by God’s waves. In the Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan, he is overwhelmed by the sea’s waves, blaming the sea for his near drowning.

Passages

Jonah 2:3

Hebrew Bible
1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish2 and said, “I called out to the Lord from my distress, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help, and you heard my prayer.3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me.4 I thought I had been banished from your sight and that I would never again see your holy temple.5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
539–332 BCE Read in Jonah

Jonathan Jonah 2:4

Targum · Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
2 And Jonah prayed before the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.3 And he said, “In my distress I prayed before the LORD, and He received my prayer. From the lowest depths I pleaded, You acted on my plea.4 And You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the sea, and the flood surrounded me. All the sea’s storms and waves passed over me.5 And I had said, ‘I have been driven out from before Your Word. Yet I will look again at the holy temple.’6 The waters surrounded me, threatening death. The depths surrounded me. The Red Sea hung above my head.
400–500 CE Read in Jonathan Jonah

References

“... It thus inserts ymJ, "sea," and gives third-person (rather than second-person) suffixes to nhswl, "gale," and to gl, "waves." In harking back to a word, nhswl, that was obtrusively used in 1: 13, the Targum not only reminds the reader of the tempestuous scene of chapter 1, but also faults the sea, rather than God, for nearly drowning the prophet; see Levine 1978: 73-74. The change, however, is misguided for, as we shall soon see, the poet is blaming his lack of rapport with God on his hopeless situation (v 5). In acknowledging that alienation from God is the core of Jonah's difficulty, the poet prepares us better for the reversal of fortunes that God alone can bestow (v 7c-d). ...”
Jack M. Sasson, Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretation (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 177.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Jonah 2:3 and Jonathan Jonah 2:4

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