Jonah 2:2 kjv

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Jonah 2:2 nkjv

And he said: "I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.

Jonah 2:2 niv

He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

Jonah 2:2 esv

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.

Jonah 2:2 nlt

He said, "I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble,
and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
and LORD, you heard me!

Jonah 2 verses

Jonah 2 2 Meaning

Jonah 2:2 expresses Jonah's desperate cry for help to the Lord from the depths of his distress, likened to the belly of Sheol, and His powerful, saving response. It highlights his transition from rebellion to humble reliance on God, recognizing God's omnipotence and willingness to rescue even from the brink of death. This is the opening statement of Jonah's prayer of thanksgiving, framing his seemingly dire circumstances as an occasion for divine deliverance and grateful acknowledgment.

Jonah 2 2 Context

Jonah 2:2 initiates Jonah's remarkable prayer from inside the great fish, following his direct disobedience to God's command to preach to Nineveh. In Chapter 1, Jonah fled, faced a divine storm, was thrown into the sea by pagan sailors, and was swallowed by a large fish prepared by God. This verse therefore opens a Psalm-like prayer offered from what seems to be a living grave. It reflects a complete spiritual turn-around, from rebellious flight to an acknowledgment of God's sovereign control over life and death. His prior physical and spiritual depth of despair is conveyed, creating a striking contrast with God's immediate and effective intervention.

Jonah 2 2 Word analysis

• He said: Refers to Jonah, the prophet, indicating his verbal address to God. It signals the beginning of his recorded prayer/psalm.
• I called (קָרָא, qara'): To cry out, to call upon, to proclaim. This verb denotes a fervent, desperate appeal, often specifically to God for help or intervention. It signifies the initiation of an urgent communication in a time of great need.
• out of my distress (מִצָּרָה לִי, mi'tsarah li):
  • distress (צָרָה, tsarah): Literally "narrowness," "tight place," implying a constricted, oppressive situation. It signifies intense trouble, anguish, or calamity. Here, it conveys Jonah's extreme suffering and confinement.
  • my: Possessive suffix emphasizing the personal nature of his anguish.
• to the Lord (יְהוָה, YHWH): The personal, covenant name of God. Jonah addresses the specific, all-powerful God he previously tried to flee, acknowledging His authority and faithfulness. This marks a turning point from his earlier rejection.
• And He answered me (וַיַּעֲנֵנִי, vaya'aneni):
  • answered (עָנָה, anah): To respond, to give attention, to hear and comply. This past tense verb implies a completed action; God did answer, indicating either the swallowing by the fish was the answer, or the prayer is a thanksgiving for a previously given (or implicitly sure) answer, or Jonah knew at that moment his cry had been heard. It shows divine responsiveness.
• Out of the belly of Sheol (מִבֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל, mibbeten she'ol):
  • belly (בֶּטֶן, beten): Refers to the internal organs, womb, or innermost part. Here, it is a metaphorical representation of the enclosed, consuming space, parallel to being swallowed. It specifically links his physical location (inside the fish) to a place of death.
  • Sheol (שְׁאוֹל, she'ol): The underworld, the grave, the abode of the dead. It is not necessarily "hell" in the New Testament sense of eternal punishment, but the realm of shadowy existence after death. Jonah is portraying his experience in the fish as a descent into death itself, a state of utter hopelessness and lifelessness. This profound metaphor conveys his near-death experience and the supernatural nature of his rescue.
• I cried (שָׁוַעְתִּי, shava'ti): To cry for help, to supplicate, to plead urgently. This word implies an even more desperate and intense cry for salvation than qara. It highlights the sheer extremity of his peril and the depth of his desperation.
• You heard my voice (קוֹלִי שָׁמָעְתָּ, qoli shama'ta):
  • You heard (שָׁמַעְתָּ, shama'ta): To hear, listen, or perceive. The direct address "You" emphasizes God's personal attention and active response to Jonah's cry. This verb implies an attentive and positive reception of his plea.
  • my voice (קוֹלִי, qoli): His audible sound, representing his specific, personal plea to God.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "I called out of my distress to the Lord": This phrase captures Jonah's initial, desperate appeal, emphasizing his deep suffering and turning to the covenant God, whom he had previously rebelled against. It is a fundamental declaration of human dependence on God in moments of severe affliction.
• "And He answered me": A crucial declaration of faith and experience. This confirms God's active involvement and responsive nature. It transforms a cry of agony into an assurance of divine intervention, signaling hope where there seemed none.
• "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried": This highly poetic and metaphorical phrase equates being swallowed by the fish with descent into the very realm of death. It dramatically underscores the profound danger Jonah was in, making his rescue an act of resurrection-like deliverance. It implies a condition so dire that human hope is completely gone, leaving only a desperate cry to God.
• "You heard my voice": This reinforces God's direct, personal, and compassionate attention. It closes the first couplet of Jonah's prayer, firmly establishing that his desperate pleas were not ignored but effectively received by God, laying the foundation for his thanksgiving.

Jonah 2 2 Bonus section

• The prayer of Jonah (chapter 2) is a highly structured psalm of thanksgiving, reflecting common themes and literary patterns found in the Psalter (e.g., Ps 18, 30, 40). Its placement immediately after Jonah is swallowed, and beginning with a declaration of God's answered prayer, implies that Jonah's experience in the fish was less about a period of sustained, uncertain prayer, and more about a rapid understanding of God's discipline, his desperate plea, and immediate awareness of God's hearing and ultimate plan of rescue.
• The use of "belly of Sheol" provides a direct textual link for Jesus' later interpretation of the "sign of Jonah" (Matt 12:40), connecting Jonah's three days and nights in the fish to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, specifically His descent into Hades (Sheol). This typological connection highlights the foreshadowing of Christ's victory over death and the grave.
• The "answered me" and "heard my voice" are not anticipatory pleas but confident assertions, showing a radical shift in Jonah's spiritual state. It implies a sense of the immediate, personal intervention of God in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. This immediate response is the core miracle.

Jonah 2 2 Commentary

Jonah 2:2 is the pivotal opening of Jonah's prayer of thanksgiving from the very confines of what he perceived as a watery grave. It articulates the depth of his despair, metaphorically comparing the fish's belly to Sheol—the domain of the dead. His cry was not merely a physical groan but a spiritual agony for deliverance from an inescapable situation. Yet, this verse is not just a lament; it's a testament to immediate divine response: "And He answered me...You heard my voice." This past-tense declaration reveals Jonah's unwavering conviction, even within the fish, that his deliverance was certain because God had heard. It encapsulates a profound theological truth: no matter how desperate or dire the circumstances, even seemingly beyond human salvation, God's ear is open to the cries of the afflicted, and His power extends even to the "belly of Sheol" to deliver. The verse establishes the foundational theme of God's limitless sovereignty over life and death, illustrating that even in the uttermost extremities, salvation is available through a desperate, Spirit-enabled cry to the Lord.