| 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. |