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(1:17) Adonai prepared a huge fish to swallow Yonah; and Yonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. (1) From the belly of the fish Yonah prayed to Adonai his God; (2) he said,

“Out of my distress I called to Adonai,
and he answered me;
from the belly of Sh’ol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
(3) For you threw me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas;
and the flood enveloped me;
all your surging waves passed over me.
(4) I thought, ‘I have been banished from your sight.’
But I will again look at your holy temple.
(5) The water surrounded me, threatened my life;
the deep closed over me, seaweed twined around my head.
(6) I was going down to the bottoms of the mountains,
to a land whose bars would close me in forever;
but you brought me up alive from the pit,
Adonai, my God!
(7) As my life was ebbing away,
I remembered Adonai;
and my prayer came in to you,
into your holy temple.

(8) “Those who worship vain idols
give up their source of mercy;
10 (9) but I, speaking my thanks aloud,
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed, I will pay.
Salvation comes from Adonai!”

11 (10) Then Adonai spoke to the fish, and it vomited Yonah out onto dry land.

Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish’s belly. He said,

“I called because of my affliction to Yahweh.
    He answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol[a] I cried.
    You heard my voice.
For you threw me into the depths,
    in the heart of the seas.
The flood was all around me.
    All your waves and your billows passed over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight;
    yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
The waters surrounded me,
    even to the soul.
The deep was around me.
    The weeds were wrapped around my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
    The earth barred me in forever;
    yet you have brought my life up from the pit, Yahweh my God.

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh.
    My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
Those who regard vain idols forsake their own mercy.
    But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.
    I will pay that which I have vowed.
Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”

10 Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

Footnotes

  1. 2:2 Sheol is the place of the dead.