how to convert 2d list to 2d numpy array?

Question

I have a 2D list something like

a = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]] 

and I want to convert it to a 2d numpy array. Can we do it without

Answer 1

I am using large data sets exported to a python file in the form

XVals1 = [.........] 
XVals2 = [.........] 

Each list is of identical length. I use

>>> a1 = np.array(SV.XVals1)

>>> a2 = np.array(SV.XVals2)

Then

>>> A = np.matrix([a1,a2])