1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly. 2 He said, "I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. 3 For 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. 4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' 5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life 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. 8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh." 10 Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.
This chapter (except the first verse and the last, which make a part of the narrative) contains a beautiful prayer or hymn, formed of those devout thoughts which Jonah had in the belly of the great fish, with a thanksgiving for his miraculous deliverance.
INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 2
This chapter contains the prayer of Jonah, when in the fish's belly; the time when he prayed, the person he prayed unto, and the place where, are suggested in Jonah 2:1; and the latter described as a place of great straitness and distress, and even as hell itself, Jonah 2:2; The condition he was in, when cast into the sea, and when in the belly of the fish, which is observed, the more to heighten the greatness of the deliverance, Jonah 2:3. The different frame of mind he was in, sometimes almost in despair, and ready to faint; and presently exercising faith and hope, remembering the goodness of the Lord, and resolving to look again to him, Jonah 2:4. The gracious regards of God to him, in receiving, hearing, and answering his prayer, and bringing up his life from corruption, Jonah 2:2. His resolution, let others do what they would, to praise the Lord, and give him the glory of his salvation, Jonah 2:8; and the chapter is concluded with the order for his deliverance, and the manner of it, Jonah 2:10.
(Jonah 2:1-9) The prayer of Jonah.
(Jonah 2:10) He is delivered from the fish.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.