Classic Poem

" Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish's belly, and said. "

I cry'd to God the Lord most high,
When trouble me befel;
He hear'd, and listen'd to my cry,
From out the womb of hell.

Thou me into the swelling deeps
Amidst the seas hadst cast;
Around the floods, and o'er me heaps,
Of waves and billows past.

Quite from thy sight I'm cast, said I,
And bury'd in the main:
Yet, to thine holy place mine eye
Will dare to look again.

Around me to my very soul
The roaring seas were spread:
The swelling deeps inclos'd me whole:
The weeds inwrap'd my head.

To bottoms of the mountains down
Shipp'd in the whale's dark womb:
Earth's bars about me seem'd anon
My everlasting tomb:

Yet, Lord, my life thou didst restore
From rotting death's abode,
And mad'st my grave cast me ashore,
O my almighty God.

For when amidst the rolling waves
My heart was faint in me,
I call'd to mind the Lord who saves,
And sets the captives free:

Then from my jail my pray'r sent,
Before thy face appear'd,
Into thy holy temple went,
And was in mercy heard.

All these from their own mercies swerve,
Who their own duty shun,
Who lying vanities observe,
And scorn to kiss the Son.

But I with thankful voice will sound
Thy glorious praise abroad;
I'll pay my vows ashore, undrown'd:
Salvation is of God.