When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
Parallel translations
- WEB “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
- BSB As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.
- NKJV “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.
- NASB “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.
- NLT As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As his life ebbed away, Jonah remembered the Lord, and his prayer reached God's temple. It matters because in his fainting he turns to God, and God receives his prayer.
Overview
At the point of collapse, memory of the Lord awakens prayer, showing that even feeble faith finds God. His prayer entering God's 'holy temple' assures him that worship offered in distress is heard in heaven. The verse encourages believers that when strength fails, remembering and calling on God is never in vain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 18:6In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
- 2 Chr 30:27Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.
- 1 Sam 30:6And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
- Ps 143:5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
- Ps 11:4The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
- Ps 27:13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
- Ps 77:10–11And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
- Ps 20:7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
- Ps 65:4Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
- Ps 42:11Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
- Lam 3:21–26This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
- 2 Cor 1:9–10But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
- Ps 42:5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
- Jonah 2:4Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
- Mic 1:2Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple.
- Hab 2:20But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
- Heb 12:3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- Ps 43:5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
- Ps 119:81–83My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
- Isa 50:10Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
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Christ at the center
Three days in the belly of the fish is the sign Jesus gave of his own death and resurrection (Matt 12:40); and God's mercy on pagan Nineveh foreshadows the gospel going to the nations.
How Jonah 2:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.