Jonah 2:3 - Exposition

He describes his danger and distress. Thou hadst cast; rather, thou didst cast , the sailors being the agents of the Divine will. Septuagint, ἀπέῤῥ i ψας . The deep; βάθη , "depths"; Exodus 15:8 . In the midst; literally, in the heart; Septuagint, καρδίας θαλάσσης : galore, in corde maris . This defines more closely the previous expression. The floods; literally, the river. This may mean the current (as in Psalms 24:2 ), which in the Mediterranean Sea sets from west to east, and, impinging on the Syrian coast, turns north; or it may have reference to the notion, familiar to us in Homer. which regarded the ocean as a river. All thy billows and thy waves; πάντες οἱ μετεωρισμοί σου καὶ τὰ κύματά σου "all thy swellings and waves"; omnes gurgites tui, et fluctus tui (Vulgate). The former are "breakers," the latter "rolling billows." The clause is from Psalms 42:7 , Jonah transferring what is there said metaphorically to his own literal experience, at the same time acknowledging God's hand in the punishment by speaking of " thy billows" (comp. Psalms 88:6 , Psalms 88:7 ).