Jonah's Prayer

1Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish’s belly.

2He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.

3For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was 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, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.

6I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever; yet you have brought my life up from the pit, Yahweh my God.

7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8Those who regard vain idols forsake their own mercy.

9But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”

10Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.