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Jonathan Jonah

Targum Jonathan to the Prophets

About this book

Jonah’s Prayer

Chapter 2

1 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. 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. 7 I went down to the roots of the mountains. The earth closed over me with its strength forever. And You are near. It is in Your power to bring my life up from destruction, LORD my God.

8 When my soul grew faint within me, I remembered worshiping the LORD, and my prayer came before You, to Your holy temple. 9 I am not like the nations that worship idols. They do not know the source of their well-being. 10 And I, with thankful praise, will offer my sacrifices before You. I will fulfill what I pledged. My life is rescued⁠ through prayer before the LORD!”

11 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spat out Jonah onto dry land.

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Texts in conversation

Compare Jonah 2:5 and Jonathan Jonah 2:6

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In the Hebrew version of Jonah, seaweed surrounds the prophet’s head. In the Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan, the Red Sea hangs above him, connecting his ordeal with Israel’s sea crossing.

Passages

Jonah 2:5

Hebrew Bible
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.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.
539–332 BCE Read in Jonah

Jonathan Jonah 2:6

Targum · Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
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.7 I went down to the roots of the mountains. The earth closed over me with its strength forever. And You are near. It is in Your power to bring my life up from destruction, LORD my God.8 When my soul grew faint within me, I remembered worshiping the LORD, and my prayer came before You, to Your holy temple.
400–500 CE Read in Jonathan Jonah

References

“... For MT “Seaweed was wrapped round”. Cf. Vg pelagus operuit caput meum. LXX eschaté represents BH sdp (“end”) instead of MT sup (“reeds”). Tg. interpreted MT swp (“reeds”) as a reference to the Red Sea (vm’ dswp), and Smolar and Aberbach (Studies 123) believe that 7g. is the basis of a midrash in PRE 10 which recounts how God showed Jonah the way by which the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea. ...”
Kevin J. Cathcart and Robert P. Gordon, The Targum of the Minor Prophets, ArBib 14 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1989), 107.

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 2:5 and Jonathan Jonah 2:6

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