Amplified Bible
Jonah 2:8
8Those who regard and follow worthless idols Turn away from their [living source of] mercy and lovingkindness.
Jonah 2:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
- New International Version (NIV)“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy.
Context of Jonah 2:8
6I descended to the [very] roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me [bolting me in] forever, Yet You have brought up my life from the pit (death), O Lord my God. 7When my soul was fainting within me, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. Those who regard and follow worthless idols Turn away from their [living source of] mercy and lovingkindness. 9But [as for me], I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I shall pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord!” 10So the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
Read all of Jonah 2Jonah 2:8 word by word
מְשַׁמְּרִ֖ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא חַסְדָּ֖ם יַעֲזֹֽבוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jonah 2:8
- 1 Samuel 12:21You must not turn away, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or rescue, because they are futile.
- 2 Kings 17:15They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, as well as His warnings that he gave them. And they followed vanity [that is, false gods, idols] and became vain (empty-headed). They followed the [pagan practices of the] nations which surrounded them, although the Lord had commanded that they were not to do as they did.
- Psalms 31:6I hate those who pay regard to vain (empty, worthless) idols; But I trust in the Lord [and rely on Him with unwavering confidence].
- Jeremiah 2:13“For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, The fountain of living water, And they have carved out their own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.
- Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether irrational and stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion—their idol is [only] wood [it is ridiculous, empty and worthless]!
- Jeremiah 16:19[Then said Jeremiah] “O Lord, my Strength and my Stronghold, And my Refuge in the day of distress and need, The nations will come to You From the ends of the earth and say, ‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion, [Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!’
- Habakkuk 2:18“What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it? It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies. For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god] When he makes speechless idols.
Commentaries on Jonah 2:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8They that observe lying vanities - They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8They that observe lying vanities - , i. e., (by the force of the Hebrew form, that diligently watch, pay deference to, court, sue, “vanities of vanities,” vain things, which prove themselves vain at last, failing the hopes which trust in them. Such were actual idols, in which men openly professed that they trusted Such are all things in which men trust, out of God. One is not more vain than another. All have this common principle of vanity, that people…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8-9The end of Jonah’s psalm-prayer is similar to Jonah 1:16: The sailors also reacted to the Lord’s saving power and mercy with sacrifices and promises.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. observe lying vanities--regard or reverence idols, powerless to save (Psa 31:6). mercy--Jehovah, the very idea of whom is identified now in Jonah's mind with mercy and loving-kindness. As the Psalmist (Psa 144:2) styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare Psa 59:17, "the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had "forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (idols) were…Read the comment
Topics related to Jonah 2:8
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jonah 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- Darby Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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