Jonah
Jonah 2
Jonah’s Prayer
1 The Lord appointed a great sea creature to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in its belly three days and three nights. 2 From the creature’s belly Jonah prayed to the Lord his God
3 and said:
“In my distress I cried to the Lord my God,
and he listened to me.
From the belly of Hades I cried out;
you heard my voice.
4 You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the sea,
and rivers surrounded me.
All your surging waters and your waves
passed over me.
5 Then I said, ‘I have been driven away from your sight.
Will I ever again look toward your holy temple?’
6 Water poured over me, up to my life;
the deepest abyss surrounded me.
My head sank into the clefts of the mountains.
7 I went down into the earth,
whose bars hold it forever.
Yet let my ruined life rise again,
Lord my God!
8 When my life was fading away,
I remembered the Lord.
May my prayer come to you,
into your holy temple.
9 Those who cling to worthless lies
have abandoned the mercy that was theirs.
10 But I will sacrifice to you
with a voice of praise and thanksgiving.
I will fulfill everything I vowed
to the Lord, for my rescue.”
11 Then the creature was commanded, and it threw Jonah onto the dry land.