Jonah Prays

¹Then Jonah prayed to YHWH, his God, from the belly of the fish.

²He said,

“I called to YHWH in my distress

And ʜᴇ answered me.

From the depths of Sheol I cried for help.

You heard my voice.

³For you threw me into the depths,

into the heart of the seas.

The currents were all around me.

All your waves and your billows passed over me.

⁴I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight,

yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’

⁵The waters surrounded me to the point of death,

The deep engulfed me.

Seaweed was wrapped around my head.

⁶To the roots of the mountains, I went down.

The earth barred me in forever;

yet you have brought my life up from the pit, YHWH my God.

⁷“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHWH.

My prayer came in to you, to your holy temple.

⁸Those who pay attention to worthless idols forfeit the divine love that could be theirs.

⁹But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to YHWH.”

¹⁰Then YHWH commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.