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Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Jonah 2:4

“And I said, ‘I am cast out from before your eyes,

Yet I will look again towards your holy temple.”

And his first thoughts as he viewed approaching death was that he had been cast out from before YHWH's eyes. He was a reject. But his automatic impulse had been to look towards the Temple of YHWH in his mind, even though he had recognised that he was a castaway. It was an instantaneous admission of guilt and a plea for acceptance. He who had refused mercy towards others was now seeking it for himself.

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See also Jonah 2:4 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Jonah 2:4. _I AM CAST OUT OF THY SIGHT_] See Psalms 31:22. _THY HOLY TEMPLE._] Then Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the _temple_ was standing....

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    I AM CAST OUT OF THY SIGHT - , literally, “from before Thine eyes.” Jonah had willfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 2 Jonah's Prayer and Deliverance _ 1. The prayer (John 2:1) _ 2. The deliverance (John 2:10) John 2:1. Some expositors have called attention to the fact that the prayer is not one offered u...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE. This psalm is a thanksgiving for deliverance from peril, and therefore, if spoken by Jonah, should have followed Jonah 2:10. The description, however, is quite unsuitable...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THEN SAID, &c. Compare Psa 81:22 TOWARD, &c. Compare 1 Kings 8:38. HOLY. See note on Exodus 3:5....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Then I said_, &c. The first clause of this verse may, perhaps, be a reminiscence of the first clause of Psalms 31:22 (Heb. 23), though there the words "in my haste" are added, and a different verb (...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _LOOKING TOWARD GOD'S HOLY TEMPLE -- JONAH 2:4-6:_ Jonah realized that he had left God's holy presence. He promised that he would look again toward God's holy temple and remember Him. Jonah said that...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THEN I SAID, I AM CAST OUT, &C.— "My first apprehensions were, that as I had justly forfeited thy favour for my disobedience, so thou wouldst cast me out of thy protection. But, upon recollecting myse...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    GOD'S MESSENGER RUNNING TO GODTHE PRAYER OF JONAH TEXT: Jonah 2:1-6 1 Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly. 2 And he said, I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jeh...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. THEN I SAID, I AM CAST OUT OF THY SIGHT - i:e., from thy favourable regard. A just retribution on one who had...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    HIS PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING This beautiful song of deliverance shows clearly the familiarity of the writer with earlier Psalms. It reflects very plainly the horror inspired by the sea in the minds of a...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE MAN WHO DISAGREED WITH GOD JONAH _MARK KIRKPATRICK_ CHAPTER 2 V1 While Jonah was inside the fish, he prayed to the Lord his God. Verse 1 Jonah learned that nobody can get away from God (Psalm...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    I AM CAST OUT OF THY SIGHT. — “Jonah had wilfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of it. David had said in his haste, “I a...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Jonah 2:5]_ וַ אֲנִ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי נִגְרַ֖שְׁתִּי מִ...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE GREAT FISH AND WHAT IT MEANS-THE PSALM John 2:1 AT this point in the tale appears the Great Fish. "And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish thre...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    A PRAYER FROM THE DEPTHS John 1:17; John 2:1-10 The great fish was probably a shark. He who sent the storm prepared the fish. Life is full of contrivances on the part of the great Lover of men. To pl...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In the midst of the strange and awful circumstances in which he found himself, Jonah poured out his soul in anguish to Jehovah. The prayer as chronicled for us consists of quotations from the Book of...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Then I said, I am (c) cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. (c) This declared what his prayer was, and how he laboured between hope and despair, considering the neglect...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    The words of Jonah are very remarkable when he saith, though he was cast out of the Lord's sight, yet he would look again. A plain proof that he had looked before. But what I particularly beg the Read...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Lectures on the Minor Prophets. W. Kelly. The most cursory reader can hardly avoid seeing that Jonah has a peculiar place among the prophets. There is none more intensely Jewish; yet his prophecy was...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    Jonah the Penitent I. INTRODUCTION A. We left off in our last study with Jonah being swallowed by the "great fish" and that is where we will pick up our study this morning - but before we do, I woul...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    In the first clause of this verse Jonah confirms again what I have said, — that when he sought to pray, not only the door was closed against him, but there were mountains, as it were, intervening, so...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    We have seen that the judgments which fall upon the unfaithful witness, being at length acknowledged by himself, are the means through which the name of Jehovah becomes known and worshipped among the...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    THEN I SAID, I AM CAST OUT OF THY SIGHT,.... Or, "from before thine eyes" d; the Targum, from before thy Word; as David also said in his distress, Psalms 31:22; not but that he knew he was in the reac...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Ver. 4. _Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight_] Thus those straits brought him to these disputes of despair,...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Then I said, I am cast out_, &c. “My first apprehensions were, that as I had justly forfeited thy favour by my disobedience, so thou wouldest cast me out of thy protection; yet, upon recollecting mys...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight, cut off from the gracious experience of God's favor; YET I WILL LOOK AGAIN TOWARD THY HOLY TEMPLE, certain that he would again be permitted to worship with the...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JONAH'S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. The words, as here recorded, are not a prayer for deliverance, but a thanksgiving to the Lord for the deliverance already effected. From this we see, as Lut...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-9 Observe when Jonah prayed. When he was in trouble, under the tokens of God's displeasure against him for sin: when we are in affliction we must pray. Being kept alive by miracle, he prayed. A sen...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THEN: though this word with us ordinarily denoteth time, yet here it denoteth order and connexion; the Hebrew is _And. I said_, with myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings. I AM CAS...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Jonah 2:4 said H559 (H8804) out H1644 (H8738) sight H5869 look H5027 (H8687) again H3254 (H

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    John 2:4 Hindrances and aids to prayer. I. Prayer is founded on knowledge and prayer is prompted by desire. If then for knowledge there be error, and if instead of desire there be coldness, then is p...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    JONAH 1-4 Jonah buried and risen a type of Christ. I. More than once in the course of our Lord's ministry, among different persons and for different objects, He makes use of the similitude of the pro...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Jonah 2:1. _Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly._ What a strange place for prayer! Surely then is the only prayer that ever went up to God out of a fish's belly. Jonah fou...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Jonah's prayer out of the depths and its answer. CHARACTERS: God, Jonah. CONCLUSION: Though we bring affliction upon ourselves by our sins, yet if we pray in humility and godly sincerity,...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Jonah 2:4. _Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight._ After what we have heard of the misguided and offending conduct of Jonah, we need not wonder to find him sinking into deep dejection and distress....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple._ THE BACKSLIDER’S VOW The leading feature of the story is that of one man sacrificed for the rest of the crew: it is the execution of the culprit, in a...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _And Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish’s belly._ THE RETURN TO GOD The object in setting forth the history of Jonah is to show the nature of his sin, the truth of his penitence, and...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JONAH—NOTE ON JONAH 2:3 YOU CAST ME. Jonah knew that God was working sovereignly through the sailors (Jonah 1:15)....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES. PRAYED] Really praised. HIS] not only to Jehovah as the sailors did. “He shows his _faith_ by adoring Him as _his_ God” [_Burk_], The structure of this hymn, composed like many Psalms,...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JONAH 2:1 Part I. JONAH'S PRAYER AND DELIVERANCE. JONAH 2:1 1. Jonah, in the belly of the fish, offers a prayer of thanksgiving for his rescue from death by drowning, in which h

  • The Typology of Scripture by Patrick Fairbairn

    CHAPTER IV. JONAH IN HIS DISTRESS AN EXAMPLE OF SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION IT is always interesting, and may be profitable as well as interesting, to mark the workings of a soul when struggling with the st...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly (Jonah 2:1), Jonah must have been a stubborn man indeed that he would wait three days and three nights before he would begin to pray. H...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Kings 8:38; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Kings 8:42; 1 Kings 8:48; 1 Kings 9:7;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    JONAH, IN THE SCHOOL OF AFFLICTION Jonah 2:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS When we think of Jonah in the whale's belly, we are thinking of the Lord in the heart of the earth. When we think of Christ in the he...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    I said — With myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings. Cast out — Cut off from all hope of life, and as it were forgotten of God. I will look — Toward heaven....

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