I Cry Out Day and Night Before You
A Song. A Psalm of zthe Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to aMahalath Leannoth. A Maskil1 of bHeman the Ezrahite.
1 O Lord, cGod of my salvation,
I dcry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
eincline your ear to my cry!
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and fmy life draws near to gSheol.
4 I am counted among those who hgo down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom iyou remember no more,
for they are jcut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in kthe depths of the pit,
in the lregions dark and mdeep.
7 Your wrath nlies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with oall your waves. Selah
8 You have caused pmy companions to shun me;
you have made me qa horror2 to them.
I am rshut in so that I cannot escape;
9 smy eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I tspread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
uDo the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your vwonders known in wthe darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of xforgetfulness?
13 But I, O Lord, cry yto you;
zin the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why ado you cast my soul away?
Why bdo you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.3
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your cdreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They dsurround me like a flood eall day long;
they fclose in on me together.
18 You have caused gmy beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.4
Born Again to a Living Hope
3 gBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! hAccording to his great mercy, ihe has caused us to be born again to a living hope jthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to kan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and lunfading, mkept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded nthrough faith for a salvation oready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by pvarious trials, 7 so that qthe tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes rthough it is tested by sfire—may be found to result in tpraise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 uThough you have not seen him, you love him. vThough you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining wthe outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, xthe prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring ywhat person or time1 zthe Spirit of Christ in them was indicating awhen he predicted bthe sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 cIt was revealed to them that dthey were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you eby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, fthings into which angels long to look.
Jonah’s Prayer
1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
x“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
yout of the belly of Sheol I cried,
zand you heard my voice.
3 aFor you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
ball your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 cThen I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
dyet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 eThe waters closed in over me fto take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
gand my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 hThose who pay regard to vain idols
iforsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 jBut I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
kSalvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
