I went down to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with her bars closed about me forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
All Commentaries on Jonah 2:6 Go To Jonah 2
Jerome
AD 420
LXX: 'the water ran about me up to my spirit; the last depth closed around me'. These waters, near to the deep, which cycle and slide about the earth, which drag much mud with them, tend to kill not the body but the soul, for they are friendly to the body and warmed by its desires. This is why, according to that which I have said above, the Lord says in the psalm, "save me, Lord, because the waters have penetrated even to my soul", and in another passage, "my soul has passed a torrent", and, "let not the well press its mouth on me", let hell not imprison me! Let it not refuse me an exit! I freely made the descent; so let me make the ascent back again freely. I became a captive voluntarily, I ought to free the captives so that this verse is fulfilled: "ascending into the higher parts he led the captives". For those who were beforehand captives in death, he brought them to life again. We must heed certain wicked forces in the deep, or the specific powers in torture and supplication; demons, in the Gospel, ask not to be forced to go to them. This is why "the darkness was over the deep". Sometimes the deep is taken to mean the sacraments in a deeper sense, the judgements of God: "the judgements of the Lord are a great abyss", and "the deep cries out to the deep in a cry of your cataracts."
