Jonah 2:5
What does Jonah 2:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Jonah 2:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Jonah 2:5 means
The prophet describes the suffocating grip of death: waters encircling him “even to the soul,” the deep surrounding him, and seaweeds wrapping his head. These images carry the panic of drowning and the helplessness of being entangled. He is not merely wet; he is overwhelmed, losing strength and breath. The language strips away any illusion of self-rescue. Jonah’s sin had taken him farther than he intended; now he can only confess where he has sunk. Such frank admission of peril magnifies the grace that will follow, showing that deliverance, when it comes, is not partial assistance but complete rescue from a hopeless state.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; The deep was round about me; The weeds were wrapped about my head.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; The deep was round about me; The weeds were wrapped about my head.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The waters were circling round me, even to the neck; the deep was about me; the sea-grass was twisted round my head.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Compassed me have waters unto the soul, The deep doth compass me, The weed is bound to my head.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And I said: I am cast away out of the sight of thy eyes: but yet I shall see the holy temple again.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The waters encompassed me, to the soul: The deep was round about me, The weeds were wrapped about my head.
Context
After resolving to look toward the temple in verse 4, Jonah returns to narrate just how near to death he was. This intensifies the contrast between his chosen hope and his lived danger. Verse 5 prepares for verse 6, where the imagery reaches its lowest point—“the bottoms of the mountains” and the bars of the earth—before the decisive turn: God bringing up his life from the pit. The flow is descent, then deliverance.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Psalms 69:1
Save me, O God; For the waters are come in unto my soul.
- Lamentations 3:54
Waters flowed over my head; I said, I am cut off.
- Psalms 40:2
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
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