EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Jonah 2:8
8Idols cannot help. People who worship them have turned away from a faithful God.
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 went very deep in the water, as far as the bottom of the mountains. Deep in the earth, I was in a prison, and its gates had shut for ever. But, Lord, my God, you brought me up from that deep hole. 7When my life was nearly gone, I prayed to you, Lord. In your holy temple, you heard my prayer for help. Idols cannot help. People who worship them have turned away from a faithful God. 9But as for me, I will sing to thank you. I will offer a sacrifice to you. I will do everything that I have promised to do. The Lord is the one who saves people!’ 10Then the Lord told the great fish to spit Jonah out from its stomach. So it dropped Jonah onto the shore.
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 12:21Do not worship idols. They are useless things. They cannot help you. They will never save you.
- 2 Kings 17:15They did not obey God's rules. They did not accept the covenant that he had made with their ancestors. They did not listen when he warned them. Instead, they worshipped useless idols, which caused them to become useless themselves. The Lord had commanded them not to live in the same way that the nations around them did. But they did that anyway.
- Psalms 31:6I hate people who worship useless idols. As for me, I trust in the Lord.
- Jeremiah 2:13My people have done two evil things: I give them life, like a spring of fresh water, but they have turned away from me. Instead, they have tried to get water for themselves. They have dug holes in the ground to store it. But those holes cannot hold the water. It quickly runs away.
- Jeremiah 10:8The people of those nations are stupid and foolish. They think that wooden idols can teach them something!
- Jeremiah 16:19Lord, you give me strength. You are the safe place where I can hide. When I am in trouble, I can run to you and be safe. People will come from nations all over the earth, to give you honour. They will say, ‘Our ancestors worshipped false gods. Those gods were useless and they could not help us.
- Habakkuk 2:18What value does an idol have? What help can it give? Somebody has made it as the image of a false god. It can only tell false messages. Why should its maker trust it for help? He has used wood or metal to make it and it cannot speak!
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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