Hebrew Form Guide

יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי (yə·sō·ḇə·ḇê·nî) in Jonah 2:3: Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common singular

יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי (yə·sō·ḇə·ḇê·nî) in Jonah 2:3

Source Word

יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִיyə·sō·ḇə·ḇê·nîVerb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common singular

Jonah 2:3 row 6 aligns H5437 with swirled about me in the line whose subject is the current.

How The Form Affects Interpretation

Swirled about me places Jonah inside the moving current before the parallel line says the Lord's breakers and waves passed over him. The current supplies the third-person singular subject, while me directly renders the first-person suffix attached to the verb.

How To Communicate It

Identify the current as grammatical subject and Jonah as suffix-marked object, then read the line with the Lord's casting, breakers, and waves.

What Not To Say

  • Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
  • Do not import a protective meaning from another H5437 occurrence or make the stem label alone explain the theology of Jonah's discipline.
  • The first-person suffix belongs to Jonah's prayer voice.
  • The form does not make the current a protective enclosure, identify the current itself as the divine subject, or promise that every crisis has the same cause.

What Does The Label Mean?

Profile

Hebrew-verb

Part of Speech

Verb

Form Label

Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common singular

Stem

Piel

Aspect

Imperf

Person

Third

Gender

Masculine

Number

Singular

State

Not applicable

Suffix

First person common singular

Aspect Note

The Piel imperfect has the current as its masculine singular subject, and the first-person common singular suffix marks Jonah as the one around whom it swirled. The surrounding prayer places this current within the sea crisis Jonah attributes to the Lord.

Verse Role

The form depicts the current moving around Jonah and contributes one layer to the prayer's portrayal of engulfing judgment and distress.

What The Form Does In This Verse

Attached To

Jonah's report that the Lord cast him into the deep, into the heart of the seas

Governed By

The poetic sequence of current, breakers, and waves describing how the sea closed over Jonah

Role In The Phrase

The form depicts the current moving around Jonah and contributes one layer to the prayer's portrayal of engulfing judgment and distress.

What It Is Not Doing

The form does not make the current a protective enclosure, identify the current itself as the divine subject, or promise that every crisis has the same cause.

How Much The Form Matters Here

Interpretive Weight

High: The form locates Jonah within the moving sea and intensifies the prayer's account of overwhelming distress.

Syntax Profile

The Piel imperfect has the current as its masculine singular subject, and the first-person common singular suffix marks Jonah as the one around whom it swirled. The surrounding prayer places this current within the sea crisis Jonah attributes to the Lord.. The form depicts the current moving around Jonah and contributes one layer to the prayer's portrayal of engulfing judgment and distress.. Attached to Jonah's report that the Lord cast him into the deep, into the heart of the seas. Governed by the poetic sequence of current, breakers, and waves describing how the sea closed over Jonah. The form does not make the current a protective enclosure, identify the current itself as the divine subject, or promise that every crisis has the same cause.

Reader Question

What surrounds Jonah in Jonah 2:3? The sea current swirls around him as part of the breakers-and-waves portrait of his distress.

Translation Effect

Direct: The current supplies the third-person singular subject, while me directly renders the first-person suffix attached to the verb.

Where Caution Is Needed

The first-person suffix belongs to Jonah's prayer voice. The distressing sense comes from the deep-sea sequence, not from Piel as an automatic marker of danger.

Fallacies To Avoid

V-Piel-Imperf-3ms | 1cs at Jonah 2:3 treated as the whole interpretation: Do not import a protective meaning from another H5437 occurrence or make the stem label alone explain the theology of Jonah's discipline. swirled about me treated as the same protective surrounding described in Deuteronomy 32:10: Keep "swirled about me" connected to יְסֹבְבֵ֑נִי, row 6, and the full Jonah 2:3 clause.

How The Interpretation Is Derived

Textual Witness

Jonah 2:3 row 6 aligns H5437 with swirled about me in the line whose subject is the current.

Lexical Identity

This row 6 H5437 witness pictures the sea current circling Jonah, distinct from the watery depths closing around him in verse 5 and the Lord's protective surrounding of Jacob in Deuteronomy 32:10.

Grammar In Context

The Piel imperfect has the current as its masculine singular subject, and the first-person common singular suffix marks Jonah as the one around whom it swirled. The surrounding prayer places this current within the sea crisis Jonah attributes to the Lord.

Passage Meaning

Jonah 2:3 recounts the prophet's descent into the sea as an overwhelming crisis under the Lord's sovereign discipline, using current, breakers, and waves to describe his distress.

Canonical Fit

The prayer belongs to Jonah's rescue from deserved flight and discipline; application should preserve both the Lord's sovereignty and the prophet's particular disobedience.

Communication Use

Identify the current as grammatical subject and Jonah as suffix-marked object, then read the line with the Lord's casting, breakers, and waves.

Do Not Derive

Do not import a protective meaning from another H5437 occurrence or make the stem label alone explain the theology of Jonah's discipline.