The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
These horrors were meant to drive Jonah from God and silence prayer altogether. Yet he had to do with God, that is the saving thought. He knew this calamity came because of his sins, so he set God's wrath before him even as the waters closed over his head. Only an extraordinary miracle could have lifted his mind to God when his life was so utterly oppressed.
AI summary
The rocks and cliffs of the seashore were bars he could never climb; he could not reach them without divine power. Yet the Lord brought him up from corruption itself, from the very grave where he would have rotted, and freed his soul from terrors that would have destroyed him. In this, Jonah was a type of Christ, who saw no corruption in the grave.
AI summary
even to the soul--that is, threatening to extinguish the animal life. weeds--He felt as if the seaweeds through which he was dragged were wrapped about his head.