To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
Parallel translations
- WEB I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.
- KJV I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
- NKJV I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.
- NASB “I descended to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God.
- NLT I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jonah sinks to the roots of the mountains yet God brings his life up from the pit. It matters because it celebrates God raising him from the very edge of the grave.
Overview
Descending to 'the bottoms of the mountains' with the earth's bars closing on him 'forever' depicts a hopeless, deathlike captivity. Against this, Jonah praises God for bringing his life 'up from the pit,' a clear note of resurrection-like deliverance. This rescue from death prefigures the greater rising of Christ, of whom Jonah's ordeal was a sign.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 30:3O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.
- Ps 16:10For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Isa 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Ps 143:7Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Prov 8:25–29Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth,
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.
- Hab 3:6He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
- Acts 13:33–37He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’
- Ps 104:8the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—
- Ps 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Ps 65:6You formed the mountains by Your power, having girded Yourself with might.
- Ps 104:6You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
- Deut 32:22For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- Ps 30:9“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?
- Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?
- Job 33:24to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’
- Job 33:28He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
- Job 38:4–11Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
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Christ at the center
Three days in the belly of the fish is the sign Jesus gave of his own death and resurrection (Matt 12:40); and God's mercy on pagan Nineveh foreshadows the gospel going to the nations.
How Jonah 2:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.