The Bible

 

Jonah 2

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1 Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.

8 They that regard lying vanities Forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of Jehovah.

10 And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #247

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247. 'The serpent going on its belly' means that the sensory part was no longer able to look upwards to celestial things, as previously, only downwards to bodily and worldly things. This is clear from the fact that in earliest times 'the belly' meant things closest to the earth, ‘the breast’ those that were above the earth, and ‘the head’ those that were the highest. This is why in this verse the sensory part, which in itself is the lowest part of man since it directs itself to what is earthly, is referred to as ‘going on its belly’. And in the Jewish Church lying flat with the belly on the ground and sprinkling dust over the head had the same meaning. In David it is said,

Why do You hide Your face 1 and forget our misery and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust, and our belly cleaves to the ground. Rise up, as a help for us, and redeem us for Your mercy's sake. Psalms 44:24-26.

Here too it is clear that when a person turns away from the face of Jehovah he starts to cling with his belly to the dust and the ground. In Jonah also the belly of the great fish into which he was cast means the lower parts of the earth, as is clear from his own prophecy,

Out of the belly of hell I cried, and You did hear my voice. Jonah 2:2.

Here 'hell' stands for the lower earth.

Footnotes:

1. literally, faces

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.