rowed § hard to bring back the ship unto the dry land: but they could not; for the sea grew more 14 and more tempestuous upon them. And they cried unto Jehovah, and said; We beseech thee O Jehovah, let us not perish, we pray thee, for the life of this man; and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Jehovah, hast done as it hath pleased 15 thee. And they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into 16 the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. And the men feared Jehovah † greatly; and offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah, and § made vows. 17 * Now Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah: and Jonah was in the | belly of the fish three days and three nights. 13. rowed hard] The word signifies literally to dig. Vulg. and Chald. agree with our English translators in understanding it metaphorically of rowing. But 6. Arab. Syr. render it, endeavoured, strove. --to bring back] Arab. adds the pronoun it, with our version. 14. We beseech thee] Here, and c. iv. 2, many MSS. .אנא read ---innocent blood] Punish us not as inurtherers of an innocent man: for we judge from the whole transaction that we are conforming ourselves to thy will. 15. raging] Nec horret iratum mare. Hor. 17. a great fish] We have but an imperfect acquaintance with the natural history of fishes. However, it is a well attested fact, that sharks grow to a size capable of swallowing and containing a man. See Boch. Hieroz. p. ii. 743. The miracle of preserving Jonah served to spread the knowledge of Jehovah. The whole transaction had this tendency: i. 16 and it also taught Jonah, and in him the whole prophetical order, God's power and determination to enforce his commands. It is probable that Jonah was the most ancient of those whom the Jews call the later prophets; a constant succession of whom seems to have been sent from the time of Jonah, that they might solemnly admonish the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, while their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians impended over them. 1 THEN Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God from the belly of the fish, and said: 2 I called by reason of my distress Unto Jehovah, and he hath heard me: * Hebr. bowels ---three days and three nights] This would be true, if understood of one complete day, and a small part of two other days. The precise time was thus determined, to prefigure the period of our Lord's continuance in the grave. Matth. xii. 40. As Christ was the end of the law, Rom. x. 4. those who understand the genius of the eastern nations will easily admit that some actions and events under the Mosaic dispensation might be purposely modified to foreshadow parts of the Messiah's history. CHAP. II. 1. This prayer hath much more the appearance of a thanksgiving after a deliverance; and indeed could scarce be used before, whatever change be made in the tenses; unless we suppose it prophetical of the deliverance. Had it not been inserted in the history, many things in it would have been understood. metaphorically, as in the Psalms. It seems very strange, that Jonah's sin should never be mentioned, or hinted at, in it. Secker. "Upon reading this period, I expected to find the prayer, which Jonah had used, when he was in the fish's belly. But to my great disappointment I found it to be his thanksgiving after the fish had cast him up. How was this to be accounted for? Why, upon examination it appeared, that the period which is now the tenth was originally the second. I have restored it to its proper place, and with it propriety and sense. A transcriber ages ago omitted it: and when he found out the omission, he wrote it at the end of the thanksgiving, with a reference, no doubt, to the place, where it had been omitted, and ought to be inserted. The next transcriber, not observing the reference, let it keep its place at the end of the thanksgiving. And there it has continued from that day to this. Let the reader learn from hence, when he meets with incoherence or absurdity in Scripture, not to impute it to the inspired Writer, but to the careless transcriber. In my translation of the Psalms, several of these transpositions are noted." Green. 2. ---and he hath heard me] He thanks God that, in con sequence of his prayer, his life is wonderfully preserved. 3 4 5 Out of the belly of the grave I cried; and thou hast heard my voice. Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the heart of the seat; And the flood compasseth me about: All thy billows and thy waves have passed over me. The waters have surrounded me to the peril of my life; Sea-weeds are bound about mine head: 6 I have gone down to the || bottoms of the mountains: + Hebr. seas. breakers. § the temple of thine holiness. So v. 7. || cuttings off, 2. Out of the belly of the grave] "The prophet deemed the belly of the fish to be his grave. But God, in providing the fish, had other purposes to serve, than to find him a grave, or even to preserve his life. He had been ordered to go to Nineveh. Out of frowardness he embarked on a ship for Tarshish, that he might fly the furthest from it. God, to punish his disobedience and correct his frowardness, provided this fish to swallow him, and to carry him the speediest way to it. I collect this from Jonah's continuing three days and three nights, according to the Jewish manner of reckoning, in the fish's belly. Had the fish been provided only to save his life, he might soon have cast him on the next shore. But as he kept him three days in his belly, I conclude he did more than swim about with him. Within that time he probably conveyed him the nearest way from the Mediterranean to the Euxine sea, and vomited him up on the nearest shore to Nineveh. And there it was that he offered up this thanksgiving, and there the word of the Lord came to him a second time, saying. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city." C. iii 1. Green. 3. All thy billows, &c.] This line occurs ps. xlii. 8. 4. And I said, &c.] At first I despaired of life; but now I know, by prophetic impulse, that I shall be preserved. Compare ps. xxxi. 23. "And I said in mine haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes." 5. to the peril of my life] See Ps. Ixix. 2. He again re presents his desponding language, to the second line of v. 6. 6. -bottoms] Roots, foundations, 7 8 9 The bars of the earth are about me for ever. O Jehovah my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah: And my prayer came unto thee, Unto thine holy temple. They that serve false † vanities forsake the source of their mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving: That which I have vowed will I liverance unto Jehovah. Hebr. The earth, her bars. pay, for my de † vanities of falsehood. 6. The bars of the earth] The strong and firm lower parts of the earth are about me, to the destruction of my life. But thou, &c.] He returns to the language of security and thanksgiving; as at the close of v. 4. If we translate hast brought up," the prophet may speak of that as already and completely done, which God had done in part, and was about to accomplish. But, as the vau is not always conversive, see Joel ii. 18, 19, 20, we may render, "wilt bring up." V. has sublevabis. ---destruction] The pit. Secker. 8.---false vanities] Idols. See Deut. xxxii. 21. Ps. xxxi. 7. ---the source of their mercy] So ps. cxliv. 2, the psalmist calls God his mercy, or the author of mercy to him. See also ps. lix. 11, 18. Syr. reads "thy mercy." One reading of Symmachus in Montfaucon's Hexapla is, his mercy." 9. for my deliverance] the preposition is often omitted in the Hebrew: as before v. 3. See Hos. vii. 11. Houbigant proposes to read 'ny, as ó MS. Al. have as wrion which MS. the Aldine edition of ó agrees. 66 with Salvation] May not this mean, even a sacrifice of deliverance unto the Lord?" Secker. I would retain the old translation, "Salvation is of Jehovah." See Ps. iii. 8. xlviii. 8. lxii. 11, 12. Dan. ix. 7. 8, 9. Doctor Forsayeth. nw is used Ps. iii. 2. The reader may see this ode distributed into measure by Dr. Kennicott in his Hebrew bible; and by Mr. Green in his "Poetical Parts of the Old Testament." Cambridge. 1781. 10 1 And Jehovah commanded the fish; and it cast out Jonah upon the dry land. CHAP. III. AND the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the 2 second time, saying; Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city; and cry unto her § in the words which I 3 shall speak unto thee. And Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was || a very great city, a journey 4 of three days. And Jonah began to go through Hebr. vomited, the cry a city great unto God. 10. ---the dry land] Probably on the coast of Palestine. CHAP. III. 2. ---unto her] Three MSS. have by "against her:" two read thus originally; and two have the on a rasure. The reading of these MSS. is agreeable to c. i. 2, and to V. 6. Ar. Syr. 3. very great] For the Hebrew phrase see Gen. xxiii. 6. xxx. 8. Ps. xxxvi. 6. lxxx. 10. Hos. xiii. 15. Isai. xxviii. 2. xl. 7. Amos iv. 11. Cant. viii. 6. Acts vii, 20. Strabo says that Nineveh was much greater than Babylon. L. xvi. p. 737. marg. Amst. fol. 1707. Diodorus Siculus represents this city as an oblong figure; the two longer sides of which measured 150 stadia, and the two shorter 90. "Ninus, says this historian, hastened to build a city of such magnitude, that it should not only be the greatest which then existed in the whole world, but that none in succeeding ages, who undertook such a work, should easily surpass it.---Wherefore, as the whole circuit was 480 stadia, his expectation has not been deceived. For no one has since built so great a city; both as to the extent of its circuit and the magnificence of the wall." Ed. Wess. 1. ii. §. 3. p. 65. marg. Ammianus Marc. says that the ancient Ninus was civitas ampla. 1. xiv. c. viii. And Enstathius has this note on Dionysius's menynas, 1. 990, p. 125, ed. H. Steph. "They say that Ninus, situated on the Tigris, which was much greater than Babylon, was wholly destroyed when the Persian empire was subverted." He adds a report that fourteen myriads were employed for eight years in building this city. ---a journey of three days] Herodotus reckons 150 stadia 2 |