Jonah 2:8

Translations

Modern

Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

Traditional

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Literal

Those guarding vanities of worthlessness leave behind their loving devotion.

Latin

Qui custodiunt vanitates frustra, misericordiam suam derelinquunt.

Original

Hebrew

English

Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

Notes

Jonah 2:8–9

The end of Jonah’s psalm-prayer is similar to Jonah 1:16: The sailors also reacted to the Lord’s saving power and mercy with sacrifices and promises.

Jonah 2:1–9

Jonah realized that the Lord had kindly saved him by sending the fish. He then created a prayer similar to a psalm. The prayer's careful structure follows the pattern of a personal song of thanks. This suggests Jonah may have written it after the event, as he remembered his feelings and worries.

Theme notes and profiles

God Works through Prayer

Events

Prophecies of Jonahc. 825 BC

Related verses

Psalm 31:6
I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.
2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
1 Samuel 12:21
Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
Habakkuk 2:18–20
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
Jeremiah 10:14–15
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

Glossary

Book of Jonah

Topics

Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Afflictions and Adversities: Prayer In Idolatry: Denunciations Against Idols Repentance: Jonah, After his Punishment

Jonah 2:8

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