Jonah 2

¹But the Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.[#Mt 12:40; 16:4; Lk 11:30; 1 Cor 15:4.]

²Jonah prayed to the Lord , his God, from the belly of the fish:

³Out of my distress I called to the Lord ,[#These verses, which may have originally been an independent composition, are a typical example of a song of thanksgiving, a common psalm genre (e.g., Ps 116; Is 38:9–20). Such a song is relevant here, since Jonah has not drowned, and the imagery of vv. 4, 6 is appropriate.]

and he answered me;

From the womb of Sheol I cried for help,

and you heard my voice.

⁴You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,

and the flood enveloped me;

All your breakers and your billows

passed over me.

⁵Then I said, “I am banished from your sight!

How will I again look upon your holy temple?”

⁶The waters surged around me up to my neck;

the deep enveloped me;

seaweed wrapped around my head.

⁷I went down to the roots of the mountains;

to the land whose bars closed behind me forever,

But you brought my life up from the pit,

O Lord , my God.

⁸When I became faint,

I remembered the Lord ;

My prayer came to you

in your holy temple.

⁹Those who worship worthless idols

abandon their hope for mercy.

¹⁰But I, with thankful voice,

will sacrifice to you;

What I have vowed I will pay:

deliverance is from the Lord .

¹¹Then the Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah upon dry land.