Jonah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. And he said:

“I (A)cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
(B)And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
(C)For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
(D)All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
(E)Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again (F)toward Your holy temple.’
The (G)waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
I went down to the [a]moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my (H)life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.

“When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
(I)And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.

“Those who regard (J)worthless idols
Forsake their own [b]Mercy.
But I will (K)sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have (L)vowed.
(M)Salvation is of the (N)Lord.”

10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 2:6 foundations or bases
  2. Jonah 2:8 Or Lovingkindness

And Jonah prayeth unto Jehovah his God from the bowels of the fish.

And he saith: I called, because of my distress, to Jehovah, And He doth answer me, From the belly of sheol I have cried, Thou hast heard my voice.

When Thou dost cast me [into] the deep, Into the heart of the seas, Then the flood doth compass me, All Thy breakers and Thy billows have passed over me.

And I -- I said: I have been cast out from before Thine eyes, (Yet I add to look unto Thy holy temple!)

Compassed me have waters unto the soul, The deep doth compass me, The weed is bound to my head.

To the cuttings of mountains I have come down, The earth, her bars [are] behind me to the age. And Thou bringest up from the pit my life, O Jehovah my God.

In the feebleness within me of my soul Jehovah I have remembered, And come in unto Thee doth my prayer, Unto Thy holy temple.

Those observing lying vanities their own mercy forsake.

And I -- with a voice of thanksgiving -- I sacrifice to Thee, That which I have vowed I complete, Salvation [is] of Jehovah.

10 And Jehovah saith to the fish, and it vomiteth out Jonah on the dry land.