Jonah 2
International Standard Version
Jonah’s Prayer for Deliverance
2 [a]Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the sea creature. 2 He said:
“I called out to the Lord from the midst of affliction directed at me,[b]
and he answered me.
From the depths[c] of death[d] I cried out for help;
and you heard my cry.[e]
3 You cast me into the deep—
into the heart of the sea.
Flood waters engulfed me.
All your breakers and your waves swirled over me.
4 So I told myself,[f] ‘I have been driven away from you.[g]
How[h] will I again gaze on your holy Temple?’
5 Flood waters encompassed me,
the deep surrounded me
while seaweed wrapped around my head.
6 I sank to the roots of the mountains;
the earth’s prison[i] bars closed[j] around me forever.
Yet you resurrect the dead[k] from the Pit,[l] Lord my God!
7 “As my life was fading away,
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you in your holy Temple.
8 Those who cling to vain idols
leave behind the gracious love that could have been theirs.[m]
9 But as for me, with a voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance[n] is the Lord’s!”
10 Then the Lord spoke to the sea creature, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land.
Footnotes
- Jonah 2:1 2:1 is 2:2 in MT, 2:2 is 2:3 in MT, and so through vs. 10
- Jonah 2:2 Lit. affliction to me
- Jonah 2:2 Lit. belly
- Jonah 2:2 Heb. Sheol; i.e. the realm of the dead
- Jonah 2:2 Or voice
- Jonah 2:4 Or I thought
- Jonah 2:4 Lit. from your attention
- Jonah 2:4 Lit. Indeed, surely
- Jonah 2:6 The Heb. lacks prison
- Jonah 2:6 The Heb. lacks closed
- Jonah 2:6 Lit. you bring life up
- Jonah 2:6 I.e. the place of punishment in the afterlife
- Jonah 2:8 Or leave behind their gracious love
- Jonah 2:9 Or Salvation
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
