1 Now the Lord had commanded a great whale to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.
2 And Jonas prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the whale, 3 and said,
I cried in my affliction to the Lord my God, and he hearkened to me, even to my cry out of the belly of hell: thou heardest my voice. 4 Thou didst cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the floods compassed me: all thy billows and thy waves have passed upon me. 5 And I said, I am cast out of thy presence: shall I indeed look again toward thy holy temple? 6 Water was poured around me to the soul: the 1lowest deep compassed me, my head went down 7 to the clefts of the mountains; I went down into the earth, whose bars are the everlasting barriers: yet, O Lord my God, let my ruined life be restored.
8 When my soul was failing 2me, I remembered the Lord; and may my prayer come to thee into thy holy temple. 9 They that observe 3vanities and lies have forsaken their own mercy. 10 But I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of praise and thanksgiving: all that I have vowed I will pay to thee, 4the Lord of my salvation.
11 And the whale was commanded by the Lord, and it cast up Jonas on the dry land.
- 1 v. 6 Gr. last.
- 2 v. 8 Gr. from me.
- 3 v. 9 Gr. vain and false things.
- 4 v. 10 Or, for a thank-offering to the Lord.
About this text. This is Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 translation of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads, rather than the Hebrew text behind most English Bibles. It is in the public domain. Words in italics are ones Brenton supplied that the Greek does not have; he marked them so that a reader could tell the difference, and they are kept that way here. The numbered notes are his own. Its English is Victorian, and does not match the modern English of the New Testament pages on this site.