Prayer of Jonah

Prayer of Jonah

$0.00 – $35.00

The Prayer of Jonah is one of the great–and oft-overlooked–canticles of scripture. In 2018, I was commissioned by Western Seminary to compose a song to be used in a dramatic performance of the book of Jonah. As the “out of the depths” theme developed, we decided to use five electric basses as the accompaniment. Of course, your church is welcome to play the song on guitar or piano using the leadsheet!

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words and music by Greg Scheer
inspired by Jonah 2:1-9
copyright October 2018
CCLI #7160802
OneLicense #110652

commissioned by Western Theological Seminary in honor of retiring professor Thomas Boogaart

1. Out of the depths of my deep distress
I cried to you, my Lord.
Swallowed up whole in the belly of death,
yet still you heard my voice.

Baptized into the cold water,
into the heart of the sea.
The deep was surging, surrounding;
wave after wave drowning me.

2. I was resolved to a watery grave
as the waves rose to my neck.
Eyelids closed to the undertow,
garland of seaweed around my head.

My final thought while descending
into the cold arms of death
was of your glorious temple.
Then I slipped into the abyss.

You have raised me up, O Lord,
from the pit I’d sunken in.
Gasping for my final breath,
you breathed me to life again.

3. Out of the depths of my deep distress
I remembered you, my God.
From the abyss my prayer was heard
at your holy temple, Lord.

Some waste their prayers on deaf idols.
Some run when hearing God’s call.
I raise a voice of thanksgiving
unto the Lord, God of all.

You have raised me up, O Lord,
from the pit I’d sunken in.
Gasping for my final breath,
you breathed me to life again.

You have raised us up, O Lord.
You have heard our desperate prayer.
You have kept and sheltered us
in your love and tender care.

 

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