The Meaning of Jonah 2:6 Explained

Jonah 2:6

KJV: I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

YLT: To the cuttings of mountains I have come down, The earth, her bars are behind me to the age. And Thou bringest up from the pit my life, O Jehovah my God.

Darby: I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; The bars of the earth closed upon me for ever: But thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God.

ASV: 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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I went down  to the bottoms  of the mountains;  the earth  with her bars  [was] about me for ever:  yet hast thou brought up  my life  from corruption,  O LORD  my God. 

What does Jonah 2:6 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The prophet descended in the sea to the bottoms of the mountains, their very foundations. There he felt caged as a prisoner unable to escape. However even though human deliverance was hopeless, Yahweh, Jonah"s strong God, lifted him up out of Sheol"s pit (cf. Psalm 49:15; Psalm 56:13; Psalm 103:4).
"Jonah"s "downward" journey from Jerusalem down to Joppa ( Jonah 1:3 a) down into the ship ( Jonah 1:3 b) down into the cargo hold ( Jonah 1:5) and ultimately down into the bottom of the sea, pictured as down to the very gates of the netherworld ( Jonah 2:7), does not end until he turns back to God who brings him "up" from the brink of death ( Jonah 2:6-7)." [1]
"When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down." [2]

Context Summary

Jonah 2:1-10 - A Prayer From The Depths
The great fish was probably a shark. He who sent the storm prepared the fish. Life is full of contrivances on the part of the great Lover of men. To plunge beneath the wave is to fall into His arms. More than once the body of a man has been found in the belly of a shark in the Mediterranean. Even those who hold that this story is an elaborate parable must admit that it is probably founded on such a fact. Our Lord's endorsement of this book and incident is very emphatic, Matthew 12:39-41.
The psalm which follows is very helpful to those who have brought themselves into the depths by their wrongdoing. God will hear such out of the depths of Sheol. When you think you are cast out of His sight forever, if you will look toward His holy temple, you will find that His love is gradually extricating you from the pit. To trust in your own efforts and expedients is to regard lying vanities and to forsake your own mercy. "Salvation is of the Lord." All nature waits upon His word. The big sharks and the tiny minnows are alike at the behest of God for the help of man. Only "look again" to God, and then be sure to pay your vows when delivered! [source]

Chapter Summary: Jonah 2

1  The prayer of Jonah
10  He is delivered out of the belly of the fish

What do the individual words in Jonah 2:6 mean?

To the moorings of the mountains I went down the earth [closed] with its bars behind me forever and yet You have brought up from the pit my life Yahweh my God
לְקִצְבֵ֤י הָרִים֙ יָרַ֔דְתִּי הָאָ֛רֶץ בְּרִחֶ֥יהָ בַעֲדִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם וַתַּ֧עַל מִשַּׁ֛חַת חַיַּ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהָֽי

לְקִצְבֵ֤י  To  the  moorings 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: קֶצֶב  
Sense: cut, shape, extremity, form, base.
הָרִים֙  of  the  mountains 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: הַר  
Sense: hill, mountain, hill country, mount.
יָרַ֔דְתִּי  I  went  down 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: יָרַד  
Sense: to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down.
הָאָ֛רֶץ  the  earth  [closed] 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
בְּרִחֶ֥יהָ  with  its  bars 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person feminine singular
Root: בְּרִיחַ  
Sense: bar.
בַעֲדִ֖י  behind  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: בַּעַד 
Sense: behind, through, round about, on behalf of, away from, about.
לְעוֹלָ֑ם  forever 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֹולָם  
Sense: long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world.
וַתַּ֧עַל  and  yet  You  have  brought  up 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
מִשַּׁ֛חַת  from  the  pit 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, feminine singular
Root: שַׁחַת  
Sense: pit, destruction, grave.
חַיַּ֖י  my  life 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: חַי 
Sense: living, alive.
יְהוָ֥ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
אֱלֹהָֽי  my  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).