Jonah 2

Modern English Version

“I called to the Lord out of my distress,
    and He answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and You heard my voice.
³ You cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me.
All Your billows and Your waves
    passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I am cast away
    from Your sight;
yet I will look again
    to Your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters encompassed me; even to my soul
    the deep surrounded me;
    weeds were wrapped around my head.
⁶ I went down to the foundations of the mountains;
    the earth with its bars was around me forever;
yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.

⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to You,
    into Your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who follow vain idols
    forsake their true loyalty.
⁹ But I will sacrifice to You
    with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
    Salvation is of the Lord!”