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Chapter 2

Then the Lord ordained that a large fish would swallow Jonah and he remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Prayer of Deliverance[a]

Then from the belly of the fish Jonah offered this prayer to the Lord, his God:

In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From the belly of the netherworld I cried out for help,
    and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
    all your waves and your billows swept over me.
Then I thought, “I have been banished from your sight.
    Will I ever be allowed again
    to look upon your holy temple?”
The waters around me rose to my neck,
    and the deep was closing around me;
    seaweed was twined around my head.
Down I plunged to the roots of the mountains,
    sinking to the netherworld
    whose bars would imprison me forever.
But you brought me up alive from the pit,
    Lord, my God.
As my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer reached you
    in your holy temple.
Those who worship false gods
    abandon the source of their mercy.
10 But I with hymns of praise
    will offer sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will fulfill.
    Salvation comes from the Lord.

11 Then, in response to a command from the Lord, the fish spewed Jonah out upon the land.

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 2:2 The author inserts, here, an appeal whose images give a vivid description of every kind of distress (see Ps 69:1-2, 15).