Jonah’s Prayer from within the Fish
Jonah 2:2–11
Biblical Period
2Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish. 3He said:
In my trouble I called to the Lord,
And He answered me;
From the belly of Sheol I cried out,
And You heard my voice.
4You cast me into the depths,
Into the heart of the sea,
The floods engulfed me;
All Your breakers and billows
Swept over me.
5I thought I was driven away
Out of Your sight:
Would I ever gaze again
Upon Your holy Temple?
6The waters closed in over me,
The deep engulfed me.
Weeds twined around my head.
7I sank to the base of the mountains;
The bars of the earth closed upon me forever.
Yet You brought my life up from the pit,
O Lord my God!
8When my life was ebbing away,
I called the Lord to mind;
And my prayer came before You,
Into Your holy Temple.
9They who cling to empty folly
Forsake their own welfare,
10But I, with loud thanksgiving,
Will sacrifice to You;
What I have vowed I will perform.
Deliverance is the Lord’s!
11The Lord commanded the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon dry land.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
You may also like
Yonat ‘elem (Mute Dove)
O God, You have taught me from my youth: and until now I declare Your wondrous deeds (Psalms 71:17)
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You: my soul thirsts for You. (Psalms 63:2)
When…
Declaration of Human Rights
With the inevitable end of Hitler, the struggle begins, not of tank and plane, but of heart and soul and brain to forge a world in which humanity may live in peace. This new world must be based on the…
The Vigil
This is a night of vigil for me,
in the shudder of my soul
I shall conceal
the secret of my youth.
I shall stand on guard:
No sleep nor slumber!
And in just one moment
the veil was taken away.
A…
You may also like
Yonat ‘elem (Mute Dove)
O God, You have taught me from my youth: and until now I declare Your wondrous deeds (Psalms 71:17)
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You: my soul thirsts for You. (Psalms 63:2)
When…
Declaration of Human Rights
With the inevitable end of Hitler, the struggle begins, not of tank and plane, but of heart and soul and brain to forge a world in which humanity may live in peace. This new world must be based on the…
The Vigil
This is a night of vigil for me,
in the shudder of my soul
I shall conceal
the secret of my youth.
I shall stand on guard:
No sleep nor slumber!
And in just one moment
the veil was taken away.
A…