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But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”
Jonah 2:9 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”
  • KJV But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
  • NKJV But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”
  • NASB But I will sacrifice to You With a voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.”
  • NLT But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

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

Jonah vows to sacrifice with thanksgiving, declaring that salvation belongs to Yahweh. It matters because it states the book's central truth: deliverance is God's work, not man's.

Overview

In contrast to the idolaters, Jonah promises grateful worship and the fulfilling of his vows. His climactic confession, 'Salvation belongs to Yahweh,' sums up the whole book and the whole gospel: rescue is from the Lord alone. This truth, learned in the fish, is the very mercy Jonah will struggle to extend to Nineveh.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Ps 3:8Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah
  • Ps 50:14Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
  • Eccl 5:4–5When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.
  • Heb 13:15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
  • Ps 50:23He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”
  • Ps 68:20Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.
  • Ps 116:17–18I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
  • Hos 14:2Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.
  • Ps 37:39–40The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.
  • Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
  • Isa 45:17But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.
  • Rev 7:10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
  • Jer 33:11the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.
  • John 4:22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
  • Job 22:27You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
  • Gen 35:3Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
  • Ps 107:22Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.
  • Acts 4:12Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
  • Ps 66:13–15I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—
  • 2 Sam 15:7After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD.
  • Deut 23:18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jonah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jonah 2:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JonahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 2:9 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.