Jonah · chapter 2 of 4
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Jonah 2 records the prayer Jonah prays from the belly of the great fish. He acknowledges that the Lord cast him into the deep, describes how the waters surrounded him and how he cried to the Lord, and promises to sacrifice with a voice of thanksgiving because salvation belongs to the Lord. At the end, the Lord speaks to the fish and it vomits Jonah onto dry land.
Chapter 2 is the only one in the book written as a psalm. After the flight of chapter 1, the prophet cries to God from the darkest place. The prayer is full of the language of the Psalms and shows that Jonah knows the Scriptures, even if his conduct does not always reflect them.
Jonah prays to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish. He says that in his distress he called out to the Lord and the Lord answered him; from the belly of Sheol he cried for help and the Lord heard his voice. He acknowledges that it was the Lord who cast him into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and that the flood surrounded him and all the Lord's waves and billows passed over him.
Jonah says he thought he had been driven away from the sight of the Lord, yet he would look again toward his holy temple. The waters closed in over him to the point of death, the deep surrounded him and weeds wrapped around his head. He went down to the roots of the mountains, and the earth with its bars closed behind him forever. Yet the Lord his God brought up his life from the pit.
When his life was fainting away, he remembered the Lord, and his prayer came to him in his holy temple. Those who pay regard to worthless idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But Jonah will sacrifice with a voice of thanksgiving and will pay what he vowed: salvation belongs to the Lord. Then the Lord speaks to the fish, and it vomits Jonah out upon the dry land.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jonah recalls that he cried to the Lord in his distress and the Lord answered him, even from the belly of Sheol. Even in the darkest place, the Lord hears the one who calls on him.
Jonah acknowledges that it was the Lord who cast him into the deep, though it was the sailors who threw him. He understands that his fall is part of God's discipline, not a mere accident.
When his life was fainting away, Jonah remembered the Lord, and his prayer reached the temple. Remembering God is the turning point: in despair, turning the mind to him opens the way to rescue.
Jonah promises to sacrifice with a voice of thanksgiving and to keep his vow, and declares that salvation belongs to the Lord. It is one of the central phrases of the book: only God saves, and no one can claim it as their own merit.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From the belly of the fish. — Jonah 2:1
Answer: He answered him and heard his voice from the belly of Sheol. — Jonah 2:2
Answer: The Lord. — Jonah 2:3
Answer: Toward the Lord's holy temple. — Jonah 2:4
Answer: He remembered the Lord, and his prayer came to the holy temple. — Jonah 2:7
Answer: That salvation belongs to the Lord. — Jonah 2:9
Jonah 2 teaches that we can always pray, even at our worst moment and in an absurd place. Jonah's prayer is not a complaint but a confession that the Lord saves him. In a small group you can share which dark situations have turned us back to God and how the Psalms help put into words what we feel.
There is also a gentle warning: those who follow worthless idols forsake God's steadfast love. Ask what things we place our hope in today that cannot save us. And remember Jonah's closing declaration: salvation belongs to the Lord, and so gratitude is the natural response.
Jonah 2 ends with the prophet on dry land, rescued by the word of God. In chapter 3 comes the second chance: the Lord again tells him to go to Nineveh, and this time Jonah obeys.
It is a mixture. It describes distress, as in a lament, but it is written with the certainty that God has already answered, as in a psalm of thanksgiving. It uses language similar to Psalms such as 18, 69 and 88.
It is the Hebrew word for the place of the dead. Jonah uses it as an image of the depth of his danger. Being in the belly of the fish was for him like being nearly dead, and the Lord brought him out of it.
His prayer acknowledges that God saved him and promises gratitude and obedience, but it does not mention the sin of fleeing or of wanting to avoid Nineveh. Some readers see sincere gratitude, and others think his heart has not fully changed yet, as chapter 4 suggests.