19 Heb “as far as the throat.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers sometimes to the throat or neck (Pss 69:1[2]; 105:18; 124:4, 5; Isa 5:14; נֶפֶשׁ 2). The water was up to Jonah’s neck (and beyond), so that his life was in great danger (cf. Ps 69:1).
20 Or “the deep; the abyss” (תְּהוֹם, téhom). The simple “ocean” is perhaps too prosaic, since this Hebrew word has primeval connections (Gen 1:2; 7:11; 8:2; Prov 8:27–28) and speaks of the sea at its vastest (Job 38:16–18; Ps 36:6; 104:5–9).
21 The consonantal form סוף (svf) is vocalized by the as סוּף (suf, “reed”) but the ’s ἐσχάτη (eschatē, “end”) reflects a vocalization of סוֹף (sof, “end”). The reading in interpreted this as a reference to the Reed Sea (also known as the Red Sea). In fact, the Jewish Midrash known as 10 states that God showed Jonah the way by which the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea. The vocalization tradition is preferred. The noun סוּף (suf) normally refers to “reeds”—freshwater plants that grow in Egyptian rivers and marshes (Exod 2:3, 5; Isa 10:19)—but here it refers to “seaweed” ( סוּף 1). Though the same freshwater plants do not grow in the Mediterranean, the name may be seen to fit similarly long plants growing in seawater.