Jonah 2:1

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God - his still, though Jonah had fled from Him.

JONAH CHAPTER 2 The prayer of Jonah, . He is delivered out of the belly of the fish, . Then, Heb. And, at that time when he lay by the heels a close prisoner in a prison, whence none before or since ever came out alive, Jonah prayed; sent his petition in all humble and submissive manner unto God: Jonah, wonderfully preserved alive, and in full exercise of his judgment and memory, now betakes himself to prayer, and in this exerciseth his graces; his soul follows hard after God, when he was shut up in this dungeon. Unto the Lord, that was angry, and now was punishing of Jonah; the Lord, who had committed him to this prison; the almighty God, who can do for Jonah all that he can need or desire. His God; though Jonah in his froward fit flees from his God, yet now, by the rod taught better, he flees to God, nay, as his God, and remembers his particular interest in God. If Jonah prays by faith grounded on God’ s almightiness, now he prays with assurance and hope of faith, looking to God as his God; if the power of the Lord and his mercy keep Jonah alive in the fish’ s belly, the same power and mercy can deliver him out of this danger, and the prophet believes he is kept there for an enlargement as miraculous as his confinement was. Out of the fish’ s belly; where he was a prisoner under many miracles, and all concur to awaken him to prayer and faith; he calls it the belly of hell, or the grave, . He employed his time well there.

Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’ s belly,Ver. 1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God] i.e. Praised God with this Canticum eucharisticum, this gratulatory song, as Tremellius calleth it. That he prayed in the ship, in the sea, in the whale’ s belly, we doubt not; but that he chiefly intendeth to show his thankfulness for the return of prayers and the sweet support he felt in the whale’ s belly we do as little doubt, see Jonah 2:2; Jonah 2:6-7; yea, that this was the substance (though now better methodized) of what he prayed and praised in the bowels of the fish we have cause to believe from this very verse; and therefore also his deliverance is set down, Jonah 2:10, after his doxology. The word here rendered prayed signifieth also, sometimes, to give thanks, as 1 Samuel 2:2; and who knows not that thanksgiving is a special part of prayer? This therefore is prayer. Jonah having prayed, and perceiving that he was heard, and by the goodness of God preserved safe in body and sound in mind, he grows "strong in faith, giving glory to God," Romans 4:20, and being fully persuaded that he should yet walk before him again in the land of the living. Out of the fish’ s belly] Where, though he might seem buried alive, and free among the dead, yet he enjoyed God’ s gracious presence, and those strong consolations that made him live in the very mouth of death, and say in effect, as blessed Bradford did, I thank God more for this prison and for this dark dungeon than for any parlour, yea, than of any pleasure that ever I had; for in it I find God my most sweet God always.

II. JONAH’S PRAYER AND . (1) Then Jonah prayed.—This introduction, to what is in reality a psalm of thanksgiving, has its parallel in Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:1-10), which is introduced in the same way. Comp. also the Note appended by the psalm collector at the end of Psalms 72, “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.”

CHAPTER II This chapter (except the first verse and the last, which make a part of the narrative) contains a beautiful prayer or hymn, formed of those devout thoughts which Jonah had in the belly of the great fish, with a thanksgiving for his miraculous deliverance. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse 1. Then Jonah prayed - out of the fish's belly] This verse makes the first of the second chapter in the Hebrew text. It may be asked, "How could Jonah either pray or breathe in the stomach of the fish?" Very easily, if God so willed it. And let the reader keep this constantly in view; the whole is a miracle, from Jonah's being swallowed by the fish till he was cast ashore by the same animal. It was God that had prepared the great fish. It was the Lord that spake to the fish, and caused it to vomit Jonah upon the dry land. ALL is miracle.

1. Then Jonah prayed] What follows, Jonah 2:2-9, is rather a thanksgiving than a prayer. The same, however, may be said of Hannah’s utterance (1 Samuel 2:1-10), which is introduced by the same word (“Hannah prayed”). Comp. Acts 16:25, where Alford renders “praying, sung praises,” or “in their prayers were singing praises,” and remarks that “the distinction of modern times between prayer and praise arising from our attention being directed to the shape rather than to the essence of devotion, was unknown in these days: see Colossians 4:2.” It has, indeed, been held (Maurer) that Jonah does pray here, and that the past tenses (Jonah 2:2, &c.) are in reality present and only in form past, because they are literal quotations from some of the Psalms. It is simpler, however, to suppose, with the great majority of commentators, that Jonah had prayed to God in the prospect and the act of being cast into the sea, while he was being buffeted by the waves and sinking into the depths, and in the agony of being swallowed by the fish. During all this time, whether his lips spoke or not, his mind was fixed in that intent Godward attitude and posture which is the truest prayer. Now, however, when he finds himself alive and unharmed in that strange abode, he prays no longer, but offers thanksgivings for the measure of deliverance already granted him in answer to those former prayers, mingled with joyful anticipations of the yet further deliverance which the last verse of the chapter records. It seems probable that Jonah’s prayer was offered at the end of the three days and nights, and was followed immediately by his release. How the three days and nights were spent by him, whether in unconsciousness, as some have thought, or in godly sorrow and repentance, like Saul at Damascus, as others have held, we have no means of knowing. his God] When Jonah flees in disobedience it is “from the presence of Jehovah;” when he prays in penitence, it is to “Jehovah his God.” Comp. “O Lord my God,” Jonah 2:6, and “my God,” Psalms 22:1.

Then - (“And”) Jonah prayed, i. e., when the three days and nights were passed, he uttered this devotion. The word “prayed” includes thanksgiving, not petition only.

1. Prayed — The verb is used here in the wider sense of any turning of the heart toward God, whether in supplication or praise (1 Samuel 2:1).