A prayer of the Bible
Jonah's Prayer From the Fish
Prayed by Jonah · Jonah 2
Jonah's prayer (Jonah 2) is prayed from the belly of a great fish after he fled from God and was swallowed by the sea. From the lowest, darkest place imaginable, he cries out, and God hears, proving no depth is beyond the reach of prayer.
The prayer
The moment, and what it teaches
Jonah is the prophet who ran the wrong way. Told to go to Nineveh, he boarded a ship for the opposite end of the known world, was caught in a storm, and was thrown overboard, sinking with seaweed wrapped around his head into the dark. And there, swallowed, at the absolute bottom of his rebellion and his life, he finally prays. He calls it 'the belly of hell.'
This is the prayer for everyone who assumed they had run too far. Jonah is not in a temple; he is in the consequence of his own disobedience, as low as a person can go. And the astonishing claim of the prayer is not that the fish saved him but that God heard him from down there. 'Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.' There is no basement beneath the reach of God's ear. And Jonah's conclusion, gasped in the dark, is the whole Gospel in four words: 'Salvation is of the LORD.'
Out of the belly of hell he cried, and God heard him. There is no basement beneath the reach of that ear.
Pray it yourself
These prayers were not written to be admired from a distance. They were prayed by frightened, hoping, ordinary people, and the same God still listens. The Living Bread is a quiet place to pray, to be prayed for, and to learn to talk with God honestly, at your own pace.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What did Jonah pray in the belly of the fish?
- In Jonah 2, from inside the great fish, Jonah cried to God from what he called 'the belly of hell,' recounting his sinking and God's rescue, and ending, 'Salvation is of the LORD.' God heard him and delivered him.
- What does Jonah's prayer teach?
- That no place is too low or too far for God to hear a person who cries out, even the consequence of our own running from him. Jonah prayed from the bottom of the sea and the bottom of his rebellion, and was heard.