4 And I -- I said: I have been cast out from before Thine eyes, (Yet I add to look unto Thy holy temple!)
And I -- I have said in my haste, `I have been cut off from before Thine eyes,' But Thou hast heard the voice of my supplications, In my crying unto Thee.
And I, in the abundance of Thy kindness, I enter Thy house, I bow myself toward Thy holy temple in Thy fear.
yea, they have turned back unto Thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their captivity, whither they have taken them captive, and they have prayed the way of their land that Thou hast given to their fathers, and of the city that Thou hast chosen, and of the house that I have built for Thy name:
Lo, to peace He changed for me bitterness, And Thou hast delighted in my soul without corruption, For Thou hast cast behind Thy back all my sins.
And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.
And Daniel, when he hath known that the writing is signed, hath gone up to his house, and the window being opened for him, in his upper chamber, over-against Jerusalem, three times in a day he is kneeling on his knees, and praying, and confessing before his God, because that he was doing `it' before this.
any prayer, any supplication that `is' of any man of all Thy people Israel, who know each the plague of his own heart, and hath spread his hands towards this house, then Thou dost hear in the heavens, the settled place of Thy dwelling, and hast forgiven, and hast done, and hast given to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, (for Thou hast known -- Thyself alone -- the heart of all the sons of man),
(for they hear of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched-out arm) -- and he hath come in and prayed towards this house,
yea, they have turned back unto Thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and have prayed unto Thee the way of their land, which Thou gavest to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have builded for Thy name:
then I have cut off Israel from the face of the ground that I have given to them, and the house that I have hallowed for My name I send away from My presence, and Israel hath been for a simile and for a byword among all the peoples;
To the Overseer, for Jeduthun. -- A Psalm of Asaph. My voice `is' to God, and I cry, my voice `is' to God, And He hath given ear unto me. In a day of my distress the Lord I sought, My hand by night hath been spread out, And it doth not cease, My soul hath refused to be comforted. I remember God, and make a noise, I meditate, and feeble is my spirit. Selah. Thou hast taken hold of the watches of mine eyes, I have been moved, and I speak not. I have reckoned the days of old, The years of the ages. I remember my music in the night, With my heart I meditate, and my spirit doth search diligently: To the ages doth the Lord cast off? Doth He add to be pleased no more?
`I -- I said in the cutting off of my days, I go in to the gates of Sheol, I have numbered the remnant of mine years. I said, I do not see Jah -- Jah! In the land of the living, I do not behold man any more, With the inhabitants of the world. My sojourning hath departed, And been removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I have drawn together, as a weaver, my life, By weakness it cutteth me off, From day unto night Thou dost end me. I have set `Him' till morning as a lion, So doth He break all my bones, From day unto night Thou dost end me. As a crane -- a swallow -- so I chatter, I mourn as a dove, Drawn up have been mine eyes on high, O Jehovah, oppression `is' on me, be my surety.
And Zion saith, `Jehovah hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me.'
And Jehovah saith unto me: Though Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My soul is not toward this people, Send from before My face, and they go out.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jonah 2
Commentary on Jonah 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
We left Jonah in the belly of the fish, and had reason to think we should hear no more of him, that if he were not destroyed by the waters of the sea he would be consumed in the bowels of that leviathan, "out of whose mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire, and whose breath kindles coals,' Job 41:19, 21. But God brings his people through fire, and through water (Ps. 66:12); and by his power, behold, Jonah the prophet is yet alive, and is heard of again. In this chapter God hears from him, for we find him praying; in the next Nineveh hears from him, for we find him preaching. In his prayer we have,
In the last verse we have Jonah's deliverance out of the belly of the fish, and his coming safe and sound upon dry land again.
Jon 2:1-9
God and his servant Jonah had parted in anger, and the quarrel began on Jonah's side; he fled from his country that he might outrun his work; but we hope to see them both together again, and the reconciliation begins on God's side. In the close of the foregoing chapter we found God returning to Jonah in a way of mercy, delivering him from going down to the pit, having found a ransom; in this chapter we find Jonah returning to God in a way of duty; he was called up in the former chapter to pray to his God, but we are not told that he did so; however, now at length he is brought to it. Now observe here,
Jon 2:10
We have here Jonah's discharge from his imprisonment, and his deliverance from that death which there he was threatened with-his return, though not to life, for he lived in the fish's belly, yet to the land of the living, for from that he seemed to be quite cut off-his resurrection, though not from death, yet from the grave, for surely never man was so buried alive as Jonah was in the fish's belly. His enlargement may be considered,