Jonah 2

Jonah’s Prayer

^1aThen Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. ²He 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!

³You 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.

⁴Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.

Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

⁵“I sank beneath the waves,

and the waters closed over me.

Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.

⁶I 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!

⁷As my life was slipping away,

I remembered the Lord.

And my earnest prayer went out to you

in your holy Temple.

⁸Those who worship false gods

turn their backs on all God’s mercies.

⁹But 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.”

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