TO DIG — and, of oarsmen, TO ROW HARD, to 'dig' at the water with the oars. The verb's plain sense is digging through a wall (a burglar 'digs through' in Exodus 22:2; Ezekiel is told to 'dig through' the wall). ⚠ Jonah 1:13 turns it to the sea: the pagan sailors 'dig' at their oars, straining to bring the ship back to land so they will not have to throw the guilty prophet overboard — risking their own lives to spare his. The vivid physical verb underlines the book's sharpest irony: the heathen crew is more merciful toward one endangering stranger than the prophet Jonah will be toward a whole repentant city. → first discussed at Jonah 1:13