Jonah 3
1 And the word of the Lord was maad the secounde tyme to Jonas, and seide, Rise thou,
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 and go in to Nynyue, the greet citee, and preche thou in it the prechyng which Y speke to thee.
“Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give.”
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 got up and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a very large city, one of three days' journey.
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 to enter the city and after a day's journey he called out and said, “In forty days 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.
The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast. They all put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them down 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.
Soon the news reached the king of Nineveh. He rose up from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with 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.
He sent out a proclamation that said, “In Nineveh, by the authority of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, 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.
But let both man and animal be covered with sackcloth and let them cry out loudly to God. Let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
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 change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.”
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.
God saw what they did, that they turned from their evil ways. So then God changed his mind about the punishment that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
