Jonah 2:1-9

English Standard Version

Jonah's Prayer

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ²saying,

^(A)“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
^(B)out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    ^(C)and you heard my voice.
³^(D)For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
^(E)all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
⁴^(F)Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
^(G)yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
⁵^(H)The waters closed in over me ^(I)to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
⁶    at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.
⁷When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
^(J)and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
⁸^(K)Those who pay regard to vain idols
    ^(L)forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹^(M)But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
    ^(N)Salvation belongs to the Lord!”