“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.
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.
- 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.
- 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 30:3Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
- Ps 16:10For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- Ps 143:7Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Prov 8:25–29Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born;
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
- Hab 3:6He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
- Acts 13:33–37that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’
- Ps 104:8The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them.
- Ps 55:23But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- Ps 65:6Who by his power forms the mountains, having armed yourself with strength;
- Ps 104:6You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains.
- Deut 32:22For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire.
- Ps 30:9“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
- Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Job 33:24then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’
- Job 33:28He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life shall see the light.’
- Job 38:4–11“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have 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.