What Does Jonah 2:3 Mean in the King James?
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse’s billows carry breaking in their root, and the speaker names God as the one who casts him into their path.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you language for a moment when danger surrounds you. The speaker addresses God as the one who has cast him into the depths, then calls the breakers and waves God’s own. The words hold both divine agency and the terror of being overtaken in view.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ
mishbarekha
GROWS FROM
שבר
shavar
to break, fracture, or shatter
The word rendered “billows” grows from the root meaning to break or shatter. Its sibling words mean fracture and ruin, so breaking is carried within the image of the water.
ALSO GROWS
shavar: to break, shatter
שָׁבַר
This verb makes the breaking inside “billows” audible.
shever: a break, fracture, or ruin
שֶׁבֶר
This noun gives the same root’s breaking a visible result.
גַלֶּיךָ
gallekha
GROWS FROM
גלל
galal
to roll or roll along
The word for “waves” belongs to the rolling root גלל. Its branches include a wave or heap and the act of rolling, so the word carries the water’s motion within it.
ALSO GROWS
gal: a wave, heap, or mound
גַּל
This noun gives the rolling root a shape like the crest rising over the speaker.
galal: to roll or roll away
גָּלַל
This verb makes the wave’s motion part of the same root family.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives overwhelm a water-shape: depths surround the speaker while waves and floods pass over.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.THE THREAD
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.The Hebrew repeats the same words for “billows” (מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ, mishbarekha, “your breakers”) and “waves” (גַלֶּיךָ, gallekha, “your waves”). The exact echo holds the image steady: God’s breakers and waves pass over the speaker.
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