Charles Ellicott Commentary Jonah 1:13

"Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not: for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them." — Jonah 1:13 (ASV)

Rowed hard.— This is a sufficient rendering of the Hebrew verb, though it misses the metaphor. In every other instance of its use, the word refers to the violence employed in breaking through a wall or enclosure. (See Ezekiel 8:8, Ezekiel 12:5, Ezekiel 12:7, Job 24:16, and Amos 9:2; and compare the use of the derivative noun in Exodus 22:2 and Jeremiah 2:34.) The figure of forcing the ship through the great wave wall is very striking. The Latin infindere sulcos and our ploughing the main are kindred metaphors.

It is a fine trait in these sailors that they will not obey the prophet’s request to throw him overboard until all efforts to save the ship have been tried.