Baruch 4

¹ She is the book of God's commandments, the Law that stands for ever; those who keep her shal live,those who desert her shal die.

² Turn back, Jacob, seize her, in her radiance make your way to light:

³ do not yield your glory to another, your privilege to a people not your own.

⁴ Israel, blessed are we: what pleases God has been revealed to us!

⁵ Take courage, my people, memorial of Israel!

⁶ You were sold to the nations, but not for extermination. You provoked God; and so were delivered toyour enemies,

⁷ since you had angered your Creator by offering sacrifices to demons, and not to God.

⁸ You had forgotten the eternal God who reared you. You had also grieved Jerusalem who nursed you,

⁹ for when she saw God's anger fal ing on you, she said: Listen, you neighbours of Zion: God has sent megreat sorrow.

¹⁰ I have seen my sons and daughters taken into captivity, which the Eternal brought down on them.

¹¹ I had reared them joyful y; in tears, in sorrow, I watched them go away.

¹² Do not, any of you, exult over me, a widow, deserted by so many; I am bereaved because of the sinsof my children, who turned away from the Law of God,

¹³ who did not want to know his precepts and would not fol ow the ways of his commandments or treadthe paths of discipline as his justice directed.

¹⁴ Come here, neighbours of Zion! Remember my sons' and daughters' captivity, which the Eternalbrought down on them.

¹⁵ How he brought a distant nation down on them, a ruthless nation speaking a foreign language, theyshowed neither respect for the aged, nor pity for the child;

¹⁶ they carried off the widow's cherished sons, they left her quite alone, bereft of her daughters.

¹⁷ For my part, how could I help you?

¹⁸ He who brought those disasters down on you, is the one to deliver you from your enemies' clutches.

¹⁹ Go, my children, go your way! I must stay bereft and lonely;

²⁰ I have taken off the clothes of peace and put on the sackcloth of entreaty; al my life I shal cry to theEternal.

²¹ Take courage, my children, cal on God: he wil deliver you from tyranny, from the clutches of yourenemies;

²² for I look to the Eternal for your rescue, and joy has come to me from the Holy One at the mercy soonto reach you from your Saviour, the Eternal.

²³ In sorrow and tears I watched you go away, but God wil give you back to me in joy and gladness forever.

²⁴ As the neighbours of Zion have now witnessed your captivity, so wil they soon see your rescue byGod, which wil come upon you with great glory and splendour of the Eternal.

²⁵ My children, patiently bear the anger brought on you by God. Your enemy has persecuted you, butsoon you wil witness his destruction and set your foot on his neck.

²⁶ My favourite children have travel ed by rough roads, carried off like a flock by a marauding enemy.

²⁷ Take courage, my children, cal on God: he who brought this on you wil remember you.

²⁸ As by your wil you first strayed from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times harder;

²⁹ for as he has been bringing down those disasters on you, so wil he rescue you and give you eternaljoy.

³⁰ Take courage, Jerusalem: he who gave you your name wil console you.

³¹ Disaster wil come to al who have il -treated you and gloated over your fal .

³² Disaster wil come to the cities where your children were slaves; disaster to whichever one receivedyour children,

³³ for just as she rejoiced at your fal and was happy to see you ruined, so wil she grieve over her owndesolation.

³⁴ I shall deprive her of the joy of a populous city, and her insolence wil turn to mourning;

³⁵ fire from the Eternal wil befall her for many a day, and demons wil dwel in her for ages.

³⁶ Jerusalem, turn your eyes to the east, see the joy that is coming to you from God.

³⁷ Look, the children you watched go away are on their way home; reassembled from east and west, theyare on their way home at the Holy One's command, rejoicing in God's glory.