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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 have you brought up my life 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 lying vanities 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.

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Footnotes

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

Jonah’s Prayer

[a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
    and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,[b]
    and Lord, you heard me!
You threw me into the ocean depths,
    and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
    I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
    Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

“I sank beneath the waves,
    and the waters closed over me.
    Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
    I was imprisoned in the earth,
    whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
    snatched me from the jaws of death!
As my life was slipping away,
    I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
    in your holy Temple.
Those who worship false gods
    turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
    and I will fulfill all my vows.
    For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:1 Verses 2:1-10 are numbered 2:2-11 in Hebrew text.
  2. 2:2 Hebrew from Sheol.