InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Yna 2 V1 V2 V3 V4 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10
OET-LV (JNA 2:6) [fn] They_have_encompassed_me waters to the_neck the_deep it_surrounds_me rush[es] is_wrapped_round to_head_of_my.
2:6 Note: KJB: Yōnāh.2.5
OET (OET-RV) I was up to my neck in the waters; it was deep all around me. There were reeds wrapped around my head.
This section records the prayer that Jonah prayed after he was swallowed by the fish. Notice that the prayer is in the form of poetry. (Both BSB and GNT show this.) Therefore the structure of chapter two is very different from the other three chapters in Jonah, which are narrative material. If possible, try to translate the material in this chapter in a natural poetic form in your language. However, remember that the message is more important than the form in which it is written.
The waters engulfed me to take my life;
¶ The waters engulfed me up to my neck,
¶ The sea rose around me up to my neck,
The waters engulfed me to take my life: The Hebrew for this is literally “waters surrounded me as far as my soul.” The Hebrew term nep̄eš has a number of possible meanings including “soul,” life, and “self.” Occasionally it can mean “neck, throat,” see Isaiah 5:14. This last meaning makes good sense here and a number of versions translate in a similar way to the NCV, which has:
“The waters of the sea closed around my throat” (NCV)
and Sasson (p. 182) who has:
“Water envelops me up to my neck.”
The important thing to express here is that Jonah was in a situation in which he was likely to die.
the watery depths closed around me;
and the waters of the sea surrounded me.
and the water was all around me.
the watery depths closed around me: 2:5b is parallel to 2:5a. Jonah expressed the threat and danger of death that he felt as he found himself sinking deeper and deeper into the sea. Notice the parallelism:
The waters engulfed me to take my life;
the watery depths closed around me;
the seaweed wrapped around my head.
Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
Sea plants were twisted round my head.
the seaweed wrapped around my head: Seaweed is a plant which grows on the bottom of the sea. It also floats freely in the sea and can wrap itself around people who are in the water. The Hebrew word used here is more general and can refer to any sort of plant which grows in water.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
אֲפָפ֤וּנִי מַ֨יִם֙ עַד־נֶ֔פֶשׁ תְּה֖וֹם יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי
they,have_encompassed_me waters until creature (Some words not found in UHB: they,have_encompassed_me waters until creature deep it,surrounds_me seaweed wrapped to,head_of,my )
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The second emphasizes the meaning of the first by repeating the same idea with different words. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could connect the phrases in a way that shows that the second phrase is repeating the first one, not saying something additional. Alternate translation: [Water had closed around me even as far as life; indeed, the deep was surrounding me]
מַ֨יִם֙
waters
Alternate translation: [The sea]
עַד־נֶ֔פֶשׁ
until creature
Here the Hebrew term for life can also possibly mean “neck” or “breath” or “soul.” In any case, the water was threatening to end his life. Alternate translation: [up to my neck] or [as far as my soul]
תְּה֖וֹם יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי
(Some words not found in UHB: they,have_encompassed_me waters until creature deep it,surrounds_me seaweed wrapped to,head_of,my )
Alternate translation: [deep water was all around me]
Note 2 topic: translate-unknown
ס֖וּף
seaweed
The word seaweed means a kind of long, stringy plant that grows in the sea.
OET-LV (JNA 2:6) [fn] They_have_encompassed_me waters to the_neck the_deep it_surrounds_me rush[es] is_wrapped_round to_head_of_my.
2:6 Note: KJB: Yōnāh.2.5
OET (OET-RV) I was up to my neck in the waters; it was deep all around me. There were reeds wrapped around my head.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.
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