Jonah 2:4 (ASV)

Passage

And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Nearby Context

Jonah 2:2 And he said, I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol cried I, [And] thou heardest my voice.

Jonah 2:3 For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, And the flood was round about me; All thy waves and thy billows passed over me.

Jonah 2:4 And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes; Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Jonah 2:5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; The deep was round about me; The weeds were wrapped about my head.

Jonah 2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The earth with its bars [closed] upon me for ever: Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "cast", "before", "thine", "eyes", "look", "again", and "toward". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "cast", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "For thou didst cast me into the..." into verse 5's "The waters compassed me about even to...", so "said" and "cast" belong inside that flow. In Jonah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "said" and "cast" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.