Fathers

Jonah 2

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Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

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What the Fathers say

Jonah 2:6

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

Jonah fulfilled a type of our Savior when he prayed from the belly of the fish and said, "I cried for help from the midst of the netherworld." He was in fact in the fish, yet he says that he is in the netherworld. In a later verse he manifestly prophesies in the person of Christ: "My head went down into the chasms of the mountains." Yet he was still in the belly of the fish. What mountains encompass you? But I know, he says, that I am a type of him who is to be laid in the sepulcher hewn out of rock. …

Catechetical Lecture 14:20 ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

"yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God." LXX: 'and from corruption my life comes up to me, O Lord my God.' He says rightly "you have brought up" or "let my life come up from corruption", because it had descended to corruption in hell. This is what the apostles interpret in the fifteenth psalm as prophetic speech of the Lord: "for you will not leave my spirit in hell, and you will not permit your holiness to see the corruption" [Ps. …

Commentary on Jonah, Chapter 2 ↗