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Now Adonai prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.[a][b]

Jonah’s Prayer of Distress

Then Jonah prayed to Adonai his God from the belly of the fish, saying:

“From my distress I cried to Adonai
    and He answered me.
From the belly of Sheol I cried for help
    and you heard my voice.[c]
For you hurled me from the deep
        into the heart of the seas,
    and currents swirled around me.
All your waves and your breakers
    swept over me.”
And I said, “I have been banished
        from before your eyes.
    Yet I will continue to look
        toward your holy Temple.”
Waters surrounded me up to my soul.
    The deep sea engulfed me—
        reeds clung to my head.
To the bottoms of the mountains I went down.
    The earth with her bars was around me, forever!
    Yet You brought my life up from the Pit,
        Adonai my God.
As my soul was fading from me,
    I remembered Adonai
    and my prayer came to You,
        toward Your holy Temple.
Those who watch worthless empty things
    forsake their mercy.
10 But I, with a voice of thanks
        will sacrifice to you.
    What I vowed, I will pay.
    Salvation is from Adonai.”

11 Then Adonai spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 2:1 Most translations, 2:1 is 1:17.
  2. Jonah 2:1 cf. Matt. 12:40; 16:4.
  3. Jonah 2:3 cf. Acts 13:35.

And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish and said,

“I called from my distress[a] to Yahweh,
    and he answered me;
from the belly of Sheol[b] I cried for help—
    you heard my voice.
And you threw me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the sea currents surrounded me;
all your breakers and your surging waves
    passed over me.
And I said, ‘I am banished[c]
    from your sight;
how[d] will I continue to look[e]
    on your holy temple?’[f]
The waters encompassed me up to my neck;
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
I went down to the foundations of the mountains;
    the Underworld—its bars were around me forever.
But you brought up my life from the pit,
    Yahweh my God.
When my life was ebbing away from me,
    I remembered Yahweh,
and my prayer came to you,
    to your holy temple.[g]
Those who worship vain idols
    forsake their loyal love.[h]
But I, with a voice of thanksgiving,
    will sacrifice to you;
I will fulfill what I have vowed.
    Deliverance[i] belongs to Yahweh!”

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

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 2:2 Literally “from distress for me”
  2. Jonah 2:2 “Sheol” is a Hebrew term for the place where the dead reside (i.e. the Underworld)
  3. Jonah 2:4 Or “expelled,” or “driven away”
  4. Jonah 2:4 Or “however, I will continue to look on your holy temple”
  5. Jonah 2:4 Literally “will I do again to look,” meaning “will I continue to look”
  6. Jonah 2:4 Literally “on the temple of your holiness”
  7. Jonah 2:7 Literally “to the temple of your holiness”
  8. Jonah 2:8 This could mean (1) they forsake the loyal love they should show to God or (2) they forfeit forsake the loyal love that God would have shown to them
  9. Jonah 2:9 Or “salvation”