In local news (New England) – a humpback whale tried to eat a man who was diving for lobsters. He was actually IN THE WHALE’s CLOSED MOUTH. FInally the whale spit him out.
Here he is telling what happened.
I see he was just doing his job at the time.
I have heard of people at the surface ending up in a humpback’s mouth, but this is different. From the article, humpback will lunge feed (move ahead rapidly underwater and gulp) to grab prey. It makes sense that the whale spits out things it can’t swallow, but taking that object to the surface is interesting to me. He’s a lucky guy.
I’m trying to work this comment out… Job/Jonah confusion?
Good catch. I missed that completely!
I think you have to be in the mindset of constantly looking for terrible puns to catch that one. Probably not a virtue.
Maybe a mod can correct it to “I see he was just doing his jonah at the time.”
I obviously needed more tea to wake up today.
I think there’s more mileage in bible verses about divers. Believe it or not, Deutoronmy 25:13 says:
Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights
and Proverbs 20:23 says
Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD
So it’s pretty clear why god sent this whale to eat the guy. God gets pissed off about some weird stuff, but I guess that’s his prerogative.
Maybe he is just jealous of people who can sink in water.
Incredibly, the same guy is a plane crash survivor as well. I don’t know if that makes him amazingly lucky or amazingly unlucky.
Rumored to have been said by the other humpbacks in the pod.
Yes, yes it is.
As for the would-be Jonah, it’s a good thing he wasn’t wearing any akrillics. He would have been a goner.
(stupid 5 character minimum)
I hate to break this to you, but you’ve gotten tripped up by Jacobean English. 400 years ago, “divers” was a synonym for “various” or “several.” Those verses were aimed at people who would cheat in the marketplace by surreptitiously using incorrect weights when goods were weighed in the scales.
No, you’re thinking of the word “diverse” with an e on the end. This is about divers, completely different. I mean it’s a bit odd that God would be concerned with buoyancy devices, but mysterious ways and all that. I think it has something to do with God telling us not to be shellfish.
He is doing an AskMeAnything (assisted by his son) on reddit right now:
A highlight:
Q: What actor do you want play you in the future Netflix movie?
A: Matt Damon.
Comment: Call it Not-So-Good Whale Hunting
LOL
NOPE!
I grew up in conservative churches, that used the KJV exclusively. When you do that, you HAVE TO be aware of how the English language has changed over time, or some passages won’t make sense.
Using Proverbs 20:23 as an example (the whole verse this time)–
KJV:
Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
New KJV:
Diverse weights are an abomination to the LORD, And dishonest scales are not good.
New American Standard Bible:
Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, And a false scale is not good.
NIV:
The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.
Understand that the translators of all those versions are working off the same source.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714), who wrote a commentary on the Bible, writes on this verse, “A bargain made by fraud will prove a losing bargain in the end.”
On Deut. 25:13, Adam Clarke (1760-1832) who also wrote a commentary on the Bible, says, “Divers weights - אבן ואבן eben vaaben, a stone and a stone, because the weights were anciently made of stone, and some had two sets of stones, a light and a heavy. With the latter they bought their wares, by the former they sold them.”
Merriam-Webster Online says,
Definition of divers (Entry 2 of 2)
: an indefinite number more than one
// with divers of the leaves torn and stitched across— Charles DickensSynonyms for divers
Synonyms: Adjective
History and Etymology for divers
Adjective
Middle English divers, diverse diverse
Note: The form divers continues a Middle English variant of diverse with the stress shifted to the initial syllable and the vowel lengthened. In modern English diverse, with stress on the second syllable, has taken over most of the word’s meanings, but divers remains as a quantifier, with the final -s voiced as if it were a plural marker.
Dictionary.com says,
divers
[ dahy-verz ]
Save This Word!
See synonyms for divers on Thesaurus.com
adjective
several; various; sundry: divers articles.
pronoun
(used with a plural verb) an indefinite number more than one:
He chose divers of them, who were asked to accompany him.
This new board software really needs a ‘whoosh’ smilie.
We’re supposed to be God’s sheep, not his lobsters.