Jonah 3
1 And the word of the Lord was maad the secounde tyme to Jonas, and seide, Rise thou,
This message from the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
2 and go in to Nynyue, the greet citee, and preche thou in it the prechyng which Y speke to thee.
“Arise, go to that great city, Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”
3 And Jonas roos, and wente in to Nynyue, bi the word of the Lord. And Nynyue was a greet citee, of the iurnei of thre daies.
So Jonah started for Nineveh, as the Lord commanded. Now Nineveh was so large a city that it took three days’ journey to cross it.
4 And Jonas bigan for to entre in to the citee, bi the iornei of o dai, and criede, and seide, Yit fourti daies, and Nynyue schal be `turned vpsodoun.
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, and he proclaimed, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
5 And men of Nynyue bileueden to the Lord, and prechiden fastyng, and weren clothid with sackis, fro the more `til to the lesse.
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they ordered a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 And the word cam til to the kyng of Nynyue; and he roos of his seete, and castide awei his clothing fro him, and was clothid with a sak, and sat in aische.
And when word came to the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, dressed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he criede, and seide in Nynyue of the mouth of the kyng and of `his princis, `and seide, Men, and werk beestis, and oxun, and scheep taaste not ony thing, nether be fed, nether drynke watir.
And he made this proclamation and published it in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: People, beast, herd, and flock must not taste anything; let them not eat nor drink water.
8 And men be hilid with sackis, and werk beestis crie to the Lord in strengthe; `and be a man conuertid fro his yuel weie, and fro wickidnesse that is in the hondis of hem.
Let both people and animals put on sackcloth and let them cry earnestly to God; let them each turn from their evil ways and from the deeds of violence which they are doing.
9 Who woot, if God be conuertid, and foryyue, and be turned ayen fro woodnesse of his wraththe, and we schulen not perische?
Who knows? God may relent and avert his fierce anger, so that we may not die.”
10 And God sai the werkis of hem, that thei weren conuertid fro her yuel weie; and God hadde merci on the malice which he spac, that he schulde do to hem, and did not.
When God saw that they turned from their evil course, he relented the evil which he said he would do to them, and did not do it.
