Jonah's Prayer

# Chapter 2
1. Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish.
2. He 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,
    and LORD, you heard me!

3. You 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.


4. Then 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.


6. I 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!


7. As my life was slipping away,
    I remembered the LORD.

And my earnest prayer went out to you
    
in your holy Temple.


8. Those who worship false gods
    
turn their backs on all God's mercies.


9. But 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."

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