Tyndale Open Study NotesJonah 2

Jonah realized that the Lord had kindly saved him by sending the fish. He then created a prayer similar to a psalm. The prayer's careful structure follows the pattern of a personal song of thanks. This suggests Jonah may have written it after the event, as he remembered his feelings and worries.

• Jonah's psalm-prayer begins by recalling an earlier, less polished but more fervent prayer (his cry for help when he was about to drown).

• From the belly of Sheol: Sheol was believed to be the place where the dead lived (see Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 31:15–17). The metaphor of Sheol as a belly is unique in the Old Testament. It pictures Jonah's rescue from Sheol through the belly of a fish.

• As Jonah was about to drown, he called out for help, life, and God's renewed presence. It is ironic that Jonah mentioned God driving him away, as Jonah himself aimed to flee to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).

• I will look once more: Jonah was either confident he would be rescued and worship again in the temple in Jerusalem, or he was calling to the Lord in his temple from the sea (compare Jonah 2:7).

• Jonah’s metaphors, like roots of the mountains and the earth beneath me barred me, show ancient ideas about the underworld. People thought the dead were deep within the earth (see also Jonah 2:2). At one point, Jonah felt trapped and doomed to die.

• But: The change is striking. Jonah, though sure he would die, was still within God's gracious reach.

• the pit: The Hebrew term usually refers to the place where the dead are thought to dwell. Jonah’s words show that, at this moment, he believed he was about to die.

• I remembered the LORD: Here, Jonah means, "I prayed to the Lord."

• My prayer … holy temple: The temple was God's special place for worship in Israel, even though God is everywhere all the time (Psalm 139:7–10; Jeremiah 23:23–24).

The 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.