Jonah Series: Jonah 2:5-6-Jonah Reflects Back On His Drowning Experience And His Lord And God Delivering Him
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 8, 2026
Jonah Series: Jonah 2:5-6-Jonah Reflects Back On His Drowning Experience And His Lord And God Delivering Him
Lesson # 24
In Jonah 2:5-6, Jonah reflects back on his drowning experience and his Lord and God delivering him.
Jonah 2:1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (NIV84)
Jonah 2:5 contains the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh descriptions of Jonah’s experience in drowning and echoes Psalm 18:4 and 69:1.
Psalm 18:4, “The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.” (NET Bible)
Psalm 69:1, “Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck.” (NET Bible)
“Engulfing” is the verb ʾā∙p̄ǎp̄ (אָפַף), whichis used in a literal sense of the waves of the turbulent Mediterranean Sea “engulfing” Jonah.
“Threatened” is composed of the preposition ʿǎḏ (עַד) and the noun ně∙p̄ěš (נֶפֶשׁ), which means “neck” since the preposition refers to the turbulent waters of the Mediterranean Sea approaching a particular point on the body of Jonah.
This use of the noun appears in Psalm 69:2 (ET 69:1); 105:18 and this preposition is used in a spatial sense conveying distance to a point, approach to a point and the arrival at that point.
It indicates that the turbulent waves of this violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea went up to the neck of the disobedient prophet.
The picture is that of Jonah struggling desperately to keep his head above water to catch some air.
So the statement “the engulfing waters threatened me” in the Hebrew means that “the waves encompass me up to the neck” and is the third description of Jonah’s drowning experience.
The first two appear in verse 2.
This statement describes the prophet as struggling against the swirling waters of the Mediterranean Sea with water up to his neck.
“Surrounded” is the verb sā∙ḇǎḇ (סָבַב), which speaks of Jonah being “enshrouded” by the raging ocean depths.
The statement “The deep surrounded me” in the Hebrew means “the raging ocean depths enshroud me” and is the fourth description of drowning and describes Jonah as submerged in the raging ocean depths.
“Seaweed” is the noun sûp̄ (סוּף), which grows at many depths thus it is not inappropriate or inaccurate to say that seaweed was bound around the head of Jonah as he was drowning.
“Was wrapped” is the verb ḥā∙ḇǎš (חָבַשׁ), which means “to bind” indicating that seaweed was “bound” around the head of Jonah as he was drowning.
The statement “seaweed was wrapped around my head” is the fifth description of Jonah drowning describing him as having seaweed wrapped around his head like a shroud and describes the rebellious prophet at this point as submerged in the Mediterranean Sea and loosing oxygen and at the brink of death.
“I sank down” is the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד), which refers to Jonah “descending” into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea and this is the third time that the verb has appeared in the book of Jonah (1:3, 5) and signifies the third and final stage of the disobedient prophet’s spiritual descent.
The statement “to the roots of the mountains I sank down” is Jonah’s sixth description of what it was like to drown and expresses the hopelessness he felt and the utter impossibility of his being delivered.
“The earth beneath barred me in forever” is figurative language of bars of a gate shutting Jonah out from the land of the living.
“Barred me in forever” describes that the gates of the earth, i.e. the land of the living were barred “behind” Jonah and denotes that from Jonah’s perspective at this point there was no possibility of him surviving.
Jonah is describing himself at this point as having no possibility of living again.
The statement “The earth beneath barred me in forever” is the seventh and final description of drowning and expresses the fact that at this point Jonah had no hope of surviving and considered himself as good as dead.
It echoes Jonah 2:2 and the expression “belly of Sheol,” which does not refer to any of the four compartments of Hades but rather that Jonah was near death or in a life threatening situation.
The adversative clause “but You brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God” means that the Lord caused Jonah’s life to be brought up out from death and refers to the immanent and transcendent God delivering Jonah from drowning to death.
It is an expression of praise and is recognition of God’s sovereign power.
It speaks of the fact that God was gracious to him and compassionate even though he was deserving of death for his disobedience.
Jonah Series: Jonah 2:5-6-Jonah Reflects Back On His Drowning Experience And His Lord And God Delivering Him
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday February 8, 2026
Jonah Series: Jonah 2:5-6-Jonah Reflects Back On His Drowning Experience And His Lord And God Delivering Him
Lesson # 24
In Jonah 2:5-6, Jonah reflects back on his drowning experience and his Lord and God delivering him.
Jonah 2:1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (NIV84)
Jonah 2:5 contains the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh descriptions of Jonah’s experience in drowning and echoes Psalm 18:4 and 69:1.
Psalm 18:4, “The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.” (NET Bible)
Psalm 69:1, “Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck.” (NET Bible)
“Engulfing” is the verb ʾā∙p̄ǎp̄ (אָפַף), which is used in a literal sense of the waves of the turbulent Mediterranean Sea “engulfing” Jonah.
“Threatened” is composed of the preposition ʿǎḏ (עַד) and the noun ně∙p̄ěš (נֶפֶשׁ), which means “neck” since the preposition refers to the turbulent waters of the Mediterranean Sea approaching a particular point on the body of Jonah.
This use of the noun appears in Psalm 69:2 (ET 69:1); 105:18 and this preposition is used in a spatial sense conveying distance to a point, approach to a point and the arrival at that point.
It indicates that the turbulent waves of this violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea went up to the neck of the disobedient prophet.
The picture is that of Jonah struggling desperately to keep his head above water to catch some air.
So the statement “the engulfing waters threatened me” in the Hebrew means that “the waves encompass me up to the neck” and is the third description of Jonah’s drowning experience.
The first two appear in verse 2.
This statement describes the prophet as struggling against the swirling waters of the Mediterranean Sea with water up to his neck.
“Surrounded” is the verb sā∙ḇǎḇ (סָבַב), which speaks of Jonah being “enshrouded” by the raging ocean depths.
The statement “The deep surrounded me” in the Hebrew means “the raging ocean depths enshroud me” and is the fourth description of drowning and describes Jonah as submerged in the raging ocean depths.
“Seaweed” is the noun sûp̄ (סוּף), which grows at many depths thus it is not inappropriate or inaccurate to say that seaweed was bound around the head of Jonah as he was drowning.
“Was wrapped” is the verb ḥā∙ḇǎš (חָבַשׁ), which means “to bind” indicating that seaweed was “bound” around the head of Jonah as he was drowning.
The statement “seaweed was wrapped around my head” is the fifth description of Jonah drowning describing him as having seaweed wrapped around his head like a shroud and describes the rebellious prophet at this point as submerged in the Mediterranean Sea and loosing oxygen and at the brink of death.
“I sank down” is the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד), which refers to Jonah “descending” into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea and this is the third time that the verb has appeared in the book of Jonah (1:3, 5) and signifies the third and final stage of the disobedient prophet’s spiritual descent.
The statement “to the roots of the mountains I sank down” is Jonah’s sixth description of what it was like to drown and expresses the hopelessness he felt and the utter impossibility of his being delivered.
“The earth beneath barred me in forever” is figurative language of bars of a gate shutting Jonah out from the land of the living.
“Barred me in forever” describes that the gates of the earth, i.e. the land of the living were barred “behind” Jonah and denotes that from Jonah’s perspective at this point there was no possibility of him surviving.
Jonah is describing himself at this point as having no possibility of living again.
The statement “The earth beneath barred me in forever” is the seventh and final description of drowning and expresses the fact that at this point Jonah had no hope of surviving and considered himself as good as dead.
It echoes Jonah 2:2 and the expression “belly of Sheol,” which does not refer to any of the four compartments of Hades but rather that Jonah was near death or in a life threatening situation.
The adversative clause “but You brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God” means that the Lord caused Jonah’s life to be brought up out from death and refers to the immanent and transcendent God delivering Jonah from drowning to death.
It is an expression of praise and is recognition of God’s sovereign power.
It speaks of the fact that God was gracious to him and compassionate even though he was deserving of death for his disobedience.
It speaks of the Lord as a God of deliverance.