Jonah 2
New American Standard Bible
Jonah’s Prayer
2 [a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God (A)from the stomach of the fish, 2 and he said,
“I (B)called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I called for help from the [b]depth of (C)Sheol;
You heard my voice.
3 For You (D)threw me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current flowed around me.
All Your (E)breakers and waves passed over me.
4 So I said, ‘I have been (F)cast out [c]of Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again (G)toward Your holy temple.’
5 (H)Water encompassed me to the [d]point of death.
The (I)deep flowed around me,
Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I (J)descended to the base of the mountains.
The earth with its (K)bars was around me forever,
But You have (L)brought up my life from [e]the pit, Lord my God.
7 While [f]I was (M)fainting away,
I (N)remembered the Lord,
And my (O)prayer came to You,
Into (P)Your holy temple.
8 Those who (Q)are followers of worthless [g]idols
Abandon their faithfulness,
9 But I will (R)sacrifice to You
With a voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will (S)pay.
(T)Salvation is from the Lord.”
10 Then the Lord commanded the (U)fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
Jonah 2
The Message
At the Bottom of the Sea
2 1-9 Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish.
He prayed:
“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’
You heard my cry.
You threw me into ocean’s depths,
into a watery grave,
With ocean waves, ocean breakers
crashing over me.
I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
on your Holy Temple.’
Ocean gripped me by the throat.
The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed
at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go,
and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
O God, my God!
When my life was slipping away,
I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God,
calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
Salvation belongs to God!”
10 Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson