As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.
Parallel translations
- WEB “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
- KJV When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine 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.
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 on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
- 2 Chr 30:27Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.
- 1 Sam 30:6David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.
- Ps 143:5I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.
- Ps 11:4Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- Ps 27:13I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.
- Ps 77:10–11Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
- Ps 20:7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.
- Ps 65:4Blessed is one whom you choose, and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
- Ps 42:11Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
- Lam 3:21–26This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope.
- 2 Cor 1:9–10Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
- Ps 42:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
- Jonah 2:4I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
- Mic 1:2Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
- Hab 2:20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
- Heb 12:3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
- Ps 43:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.
- Ps 119:81–83My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
- Isa 50:10Who among you fears Yahweh, and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.