Jonah 2 - Modern English Version

¹ Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish.

² He said: “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!”

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon dry land.