The Bible

 

Jonah 2

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1 And Jonah prayeth unto Jehovah his God from the bowels of the fish.

2 And he saith: I called, because of my distress, to Jehovah, And He doth answer me, From the belly of sheol I have cried, Thou hast heard my voice.

3 When Thou dost cast me [into] the deep, Into the heart of the seas, Then the flood doth compass me, All Thy breakers and Thy billows have passed over me.

4 And I -- I said: I have been cast out from before Thine eyes, (Yet I add to look unto Thy holy temple!)

5 Compassed me have waters unto the soul, The deep doth compass me, The weed is bound to my head.

6 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.

7 In the feebleness within me of my soul Jehovah I have remembered, And come in unto Thee doth my prayer, Unto Thy holy temple.

8 Those observing lying vanities their own mercy forsake.

9 And I -- with a voice of thanksgiving -- I sacrifice to Thee, That which I have vowed I complete, Salvation [is] of Jehovah.

10 And Jehovah saith to the fish, and it vomiteth out Jonah on the dry land.

   

Commentary

 

God

  
Ancient of Days, by William Blake

When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is one, whole and complete in itself, and Jehovah also is one, a name applied only to the Lord. The divine love expresses itself in the form of wisdom. Love, then, is the essence of God -- His inmost. Wisdom -- the loving understanding of how to put love into action -- is slightly more external, giving love a way to express itself. Wisdom, however, is expressed in a great variety of thoughts and ideas, what the Writings collectively call divine truth. There are also many imaginary gods, and sometimes angels and people can be called gods (the Lord said Moses would be as a god to Aaron). So when the Bible calls the Lord "God," it is in most cases referring to divine truth. In other cases, "God" has reference to what is called the divine human. The case there is this: As human beings, we cannot engage the Lord directly as divine love. It is too powerful and too pure. Instead, we have to approach Him by understanding Him through divine truth. Divine truth, then, is the Lord in human form, a form we can approach and understand. Thus "God" is also used in reference to this human aspect, because it is an expression of truth.

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This video is a product of the New Christian Bible Study Corporation. Follow this link for more information and more explanations - text, pictures, audio files, and videos: www.newchristianbiblestudy.org