Jonah 2

Jonah 2:1

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly.

Then Jonah spent that time of the three days, wherein he was thus woefully imprisoned in the belly of the whale, in his earnest prayers unto God, and in his humble and hearty confessions of his great sin against his God.

Jonah 2:2

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction, &c.

And after, when he was by the power of God delivered from that death, he uttered and penned this song of thanksgiving, for so wonderful a mercy, &c. Ibid. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my prayer. Out of that place of unspeakable horror, wherein I was for the time buried, as in the belly of a living and moving grave, I then failed not to cry unto thee, and thou heardest me.

Jonah 2:3

For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy wares passed over me.

It was not the act of the mariners, Lord, it was thy just act, to cast me into the deep: there I was, by thine appointment, in the midst of many seas; for so did that fearful monster carry me from one sea to another; and the floods compassed me about.

Jonah 2:4

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

Then said I, Lord, I am justly cast out of thy sight, into this place of horror; yet, since thou still givest me life and being, I will trust in thy mighty power and infinite mercy, that thou hast reserved me for some further service to thee in thy Church.

Jonah 2:6

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever.

I went down, in the maw of that vast and dreadful beast, to the bottom of the sea, even to the lowest foundations of the mountains; the earth, with all her rocks and hills, was over my head, beyond all natural possibility of recovery.

Jonah 2:8

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Those foolish men, that worship vain idols, which are nothing but lies and falsehood, forsake all the benefit of thy merciful protection and deliverance. But I, &c.

Jonah 2:10

And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

And the Lord commanded the whale, and it accordingly did cast up Jonah upon the dry land.