The waters compassed me, &c.— Jonah, as we have before observed, speaks this in the bowels of the fish; therefore they seem to mistake the matter, who say that Jonah speaks this in the midst of the sea, before he was swallowed by the fish. The fish swallowed up Jonah, when first he fell to the bottom of the sea, involved with sea-weed, into which he fell. Houbigant. But why may not this (as well as the following verse, which must necessarily be so) be understood figuratively and poetically, describing his situation in the deep, when in the belly of the fish?
Related Commentaries of Jonah 2:5
Jonah 2:5
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.