Jonah 2:3
3 You threw me ▼ into the deep waters, ▼▼ Heb “the deep” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “into the ocean depths.”
into the middle ▼
▼ Heb “heart” (so many English versions); CEV “to the (+ very TEV) bottom of the sea.”
of the sea; ▼▼ The BHS editors suggest deleting either מְצוּלָה (metsulah, “into the deep”) or בִּלְבַב יַמִּים (bilvav yammim, “into the heart of the sea”). They propose that one or the other is a scribal gloss on the remaining term. However, the use of an appositional phrase within a poetic colon is not unprecedented in Hebrew poetry. The MT is therefore best retained.
the ocean current ▼ engulfed ▼
▼ Heb “surrounded” (so NRSV); NAB “enveloped.”
me; all the mighty waves ▼
▼ Heb “your breakers and your waves.” This phrase is a nominal hendiadys; the first noun functions as an attributive adjective modifying the second noun: “your breaking waves.”
you sent ▼▼ Heb “your… your…” The 2nd person masculine singular suffixes on מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ (mishbarekha vegallekha, “your breakers and your waves”) function as genitives of source. Just as God had hurled a violent wind upon the sea (1:4) and had sovereignly sent the large fish to swallow him (1:17 [2:1 HT]), Jonah viewed God as sovereignly responsible for afflicting him with sea waves that were crashing upon his head, threatening to drown him. Tg. Jonah 2:3 alters the 2nd person masculine singular suffixes to 3rd person masculine singular suffixes to make them refer to the sea and not to God, for the sake of smoothness: “all the gales of the sea and its billows.”
swept ▼▼ Heb “crossed”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “passed.”
over me. ▼
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