Jonah 2:3

hadst cast There is no pluperf. tense in the Heb. language. There is no need, however, here to depart from the more literal rendering castedst or didst cast, R.V. See note on Jonah 2:1.

the deep The same word is used (in the plur.) literally of Pharaoh and his host, Exodus 15:5, "They sank into the bottom," and metaphorically, Micah 7:19.

the floods Lit., the river. Used of the current or flowingof the sea. "And the flowing (of the sea) surrounds me." Gesenius: -das strömen." The same word occurs in the same sense, Psalms 24:2.

All thy billows, &c. Lit., " all Thy breakers and Thy long rolling waves." Comp. "Quanti montes volvuntur aquarum." Ovid. Trist.1. ii. 19. The whole clause occurs again in Psalms 42:7, though there it is used metaphorically and here literally; or rather, to the metaphorical sense is here superadded the literal. For by calling them "Thy" breakers and waves, Jonah shews that to him, as to the Psalmist, the sense of God's punishment and displeasure was the soul of his affliction.