2
Jonah’s Prayer inside the Fish
1 *From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.
2 Jonah prayed:
“I called to the Lord in my distress,
and he answered me.
From the depths of my ⌞watery⌟ grave I cried for help,
and you heard my cry.
3 You threw me into the deep, into the depths of the sea,
and water surrounded me.
All the whitecaps on your waves have swept over me.
4 “Then I thought,
‘I have been banished from your sight.
Will I ever see your holy temple again?’
5 “Water surrounded me, threatening my life.
The deep ⌞sea⌟ covered me completely.
Seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I sank to the foot of the mountains.
I sank to the bottom,
where bars held me forever.
But you brought me back from the pit, O Lord, my God.
7 “As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord.
My prayer came to you in your holy temple.
8 Those who hold on to worthless idols abandon their loyalty ⌞to you⌟.
9 But I will sacrifice to you with songs of thanksgiving.
I will keep my vow.
Victory belongs to the Lord!”
10 Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out onto the shore.
* 2:1 Jonah 2:1–10 in English Bibles is Jonah 2:2–11 in the Hebrew Bible.