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Jonah 2
The Voice
Jonah 2
The Voice
2 To his God, the Eternal, Jonah prayed from inside this great fish.
Jonah reveals in his prayer a change of heart: he thanks God for saving him from the angry sea.
2 Jonah: With desperate cries
I beckoned the Eternal to hear, and He answered me.
From the belly, the place of death, I cried out to You,
and You have responded to my voice.
3 You threw me into the watery depths
and cast me into the middle of the chaotic seas.
The waters closed in around me;
Your waves broke over me;
Your surf swelled as I sank into the depths.
4 But then I said to You,
“I have been driven out from before Your very eyes.
Still, I know I will gaze again on Your holy temple.”
5 The waters swallowed me;
the deep abyss was covering over me.
Seaweeds were wrapped around my head, trapping me
6 as I sank down to where the mountains are rooted to the earth.
I went down to the place where death’s gate would lock me in forever.
Yet You lifted me up from the pit.
Eternal One, You are my God!
7 Only as my life was fading way
did I remember the Eternal;
To Your sacred dwelling, Your holy temple,
my cries did rise to You.
8 Those who worship worthless idols
turn their backs on God and renounce their loyal love.
9 But I will sing to You and sacrifice to You
with a voice filled with thanksgiving;
Whatever I promised, I will certainly pay it
because deliverance is from the Eternal alone.
10 Then the Eternal One directed the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the shore.
Jonah 2
New International Version
Jonah 2
New International Version
2 1 [a]From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:
“In my distress I called(A) to the Lord,(B)
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead(C) I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths,(D)
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves(E) and breakers
swept over me.(F)
4 I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;(G)
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’(H)
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,[b]
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.(I)
6 To the roots of the mountains(J) I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.(K)
7 “When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered(L) you, Lord,
and my prayer(M) rose to you,
to your holy temple.(N)
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols(O)
turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,(P)
will sacrifice(Q) to you.
What I have vowed(R) I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation(S) comes from the Lord.’”
10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Jonah 2
1599 Geneva Bible
Jonah 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 1 Jonah is in the fish’s belly. 2 His prayer. 10 He is delivered.
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God [a]out of the fish’s belly,
2 And said, I cried in mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me: out of the belly [b]of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the bottom in the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about: all thy surges, and all thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am [c]cast away out of thy sight: yet will I look again toward thine holy Temple.
5 The waters compassed me about unto the soul: the depth closed me round about, and the weeds were wrapped about mine head.
6 I went down to the bottom of the mountains: the earth with her bars was about me forever, yet hast thou brought up my [d]life from the pit, O Lord my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came unto thee into thine holy Temple.
8 They that wait upon lying [e]vanities, forsake their own [f]mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, and will pay that that I have vowed: salvation is of the Lord.
10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it cast out Jonah upon the dry land.
Footnotes
- Jonah 2:1 Being now swallowed up of death, and seeing no remedy to escape, his faith brast out unto the Lord, knowing that out of the very hell he was able to deliver him.
- Jonah 2:2 For he was now in the fish’s belly as in a grave or place of darkness.
- Jonah 2:4 This declared what his prayer was, and how he labored between hope and despair, considering the neglect of his vocation, and God’s judgments for the same: but yet in the end faith got the victory.
- Jonah 2:6 Thou hast delivered me from the belly of the fish and all these dangers, as it were raising me from death to life.
- Jonah 2:8 They that depend upon anything save on God alone.
- Jonah 2:8 They refuse their own felicity, and that goodness which they should else receive of God.
The Voice (VOICE)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV) 
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.