Jonah 2:4 (LSB)

Passage

So I said, ‘I have been driven away from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

Nearby Context

Jonah 2:2 and he said, “I called out of my distress to Yahweh, And He answered me. I cried for help from the belly of Sheol; You heard my voice.

Jonah 2:3 For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current surrounded me. All Your breakers and waves passed over me.

Jonah 2:4 So I said, ‘I have been driven away from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

Jonah 2:5 Water encompassed me to my very soul. The great deep surrounded me, Weeds were wrapped around my head.

Jonah 2:6 I went down to the base of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Yahweh my God.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "been", "driven", "away", "sight", "nevertheless", "look", and "again". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "been", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "For You had cast me into the..." into verse 5's "Water encompassed me to my very soul...", so "said" and "been" 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 "been" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.