The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.
Here in many words Jonah relates how many things had happened to him, which were calculated to overwhelm his mind with terror and to drive him far from God, and to take away every desire for prayer. But we must ever bear in mind what we have already stated, — that he had to do with God: and this ought to be well considered by us.
I went down to the bottom of the mountains,.... Which are in the midst of the sea, whither the fish carried him, and where the waters are deep; or the bottom of rocks and promontories on the shore of the sea; and such vast rocks hanging over the sea, whose bottoms were in it, it seems are on the shore of Joppa, near to which...
even to the soul--that is, threatening to extinguish the animal life. weeds--He felt as if the seaweeds through which he was dragged were wrapped about his head.