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.
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.
- BSB 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!
- 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, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
- Ps 16:10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
- Ps 143:7Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- Prov 8:25–29Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
- Hab 3:6He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
- Acts 13:33–37God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
- Ps 104:8They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
- Ps 55:23But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.
- Ps 65:6Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:
- Ps 104:6Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
- Deut 32:22For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
- Ps 30:9What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
- Isa 40:12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Job 33:24Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
- Job 33:28He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
- Job 38:4–11Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.