The Road to Restoration

Jonah 2

2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,

  “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
    and he answered me;
  out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
    and you heard my voice.
3   For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
  all your waves and your billows
    passed over me.
4   Then I said, ‘I am driven away
    from your sight;
  yet I shall again look
    upon your holy temple.’
5   The waters closed in over me to take my life;
    the deep surrounded me;
  weeds were wrapped about my head
6     at the roots of the mountains.
  I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me forever;
  yet you brought up my life from the pit,
    O LORD my God.
7   When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the LORD,
  and my prayer came to you,
    into your holy temple.
8   Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9   But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you;
  what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.