Baruch 4

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW JERUSALEM
1 “ ‘This is the book of the commandments of God and of the law, which exists in eternity. All those who keep it will attain to life, but those who have forsaken it, to death.	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 Convert, O Jacob, and embrace it, walk in the way of its splendor, facing its light.	2 Turn back, Jacob, seize her, in her radiance make your way to light:
3 Do not surrender your glory to another, nor your value to a foreign people.	3 do not yield your glory to another, your privilege to a people not your own.
4 We have been happy, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God have been made clear to us.	4 Israel, blessed are we: what pleases God has been revealed to us!
5 Be ever more peaceful in soul, O people of God, the memorial of Israel.	5 Take courage, my people, memorial of Israel!
6 You have been sold to the nations, not into destruction, but because of this, in resentment, you provoked God to wrath, and so you have been delivered to adversity.	6 You were sold to the nations, but not for extermination. You provoked God; and so were delivered toyour enemies,
7 For you have exasperated him who made you, the eternal God, by sacrificing to evil spirits, and not to God.	7 since you had angered your Creator by offering sacrifices to demons, and not to God.
8 For you have forgotten God, who nurtured you, and you have saddened Jerusalem, your nurse.	8 You had forgotten the eternal God who reared you. You had also grieved Jerusalem who nursed you,
9 For she saw the wrath of God approaching you, and she said, “Listen, region of Zion, for God has brought upon me great sorrow.	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 For I have seen the captivity of my people, my sons and daughters, which the Eternal has led over them.	10 I have seen my sons and daughters taken into captivity, which the Eternal brought down on them.
11 For I nurtured them with joy, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.	11 I had reared them joyful y; in tears, in sorrow, I watched them go away.
12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and a desolation, for I am forsaken by many because of the sins of my sons, because they strayed from the law of God.	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 And they have not known his righteousness, nor walked in the ways of the commandments of God, nor have they advanced with justice along the paths of his truth.	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 Let the region of Zion approach, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal led over them.	14 Come here, neighbours of Zion! Remember my sons' and daughters' captivity, which the Eternalbrought down on them.
15 For he has brought a far away people upon them, a guilty people, and of another language,	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 who have not reverenced the aged, nor had mercy on the children, and who have led away the beloved of the widow, leaving me deserted and alone, without sons.	16 they carried off the widow's cherished sons, they left her quite alone, bereft of her daughters.
17 But as for me, how am I able to help you?	17 For my part, how could I help you?
18 For he who has brought these evils upon you, will rescue you from the hands of your enemies.	18 He who brought those disasters down on you, is the one to deliver you from your enemies' clutches.
19 Walk on, sons, walk on, for I have been abandoned and I am alone.	19 Go, my children, go your way! I must stay bereft and lonely;
20 I have taken off the garment of peace and have put on the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry out to the most High in my days.	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 Be ever more peaceful, sons. Cry out to the Lord, and he will rescue you from the hand of the hostile leaders.	21 Take courage, my children, cal on God: he wil deliver you from tyranny, from the clutches of yourenemies;
22 For I have placed my hope in your eternal salvation, and joy approaches me from the Holy One, over the mercy which will come to you by our eternal salvation.	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 For I sent you forth with sorrow and weeping, but the Lord will restore you to me with joy and gladness for eternity.	23 In sorrow and tears I watched you go away, but God wil give you back to me in joy and gladness forever.
24 For just as the neighbors of Zion have seen your captivity from God, so also will they soon see your salvation from God, which will overcome you with great honor and eternal splendor.	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 Sons, endure patiently the wrath that has come upon you, for your enemy has persecuted you, but you will quickly see his destruction and you will climb over his neck.	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 delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were regarded as a flock torn apart by enemies.	26 My favourite children have travel ed by rough roads, carried off like a flock by a marauding enemy.
27 Be ever more peaceful in soul, sons, and call out to the Lord, for you will be remembered by him who led you away.	27 Take courage, my children, cal on God: he who brought this on you wil remember you.
28 For as much as you thought to go astray from God, ten times as much again he will require of you when converting.	28 As by your wil you first strayed from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times harder;
29 For he who led you into evil, he himself will again lead you to eternal happiness with your salvation.”	29 for as he has been bringing down those disasters on you, so wil he rescue you and give you eternaljoy.
30 Be ever more peaceful in soul, Jerusalem, for he who has named you, has been affected by you.	30 Take courage, Jerusalem: he who gave you your name wil console you.
31 The criminals who have troubled you, will perish, and those who rejoiced in your ruin, will be punished.	31 Disaster wil come to al who have il -treated you and gloated over your fal .
32 The cities that your sons have served, will be punished, and also, she who received your sons.	32 Disaster wil come to the cities where your children were slaves; disaster to whichever one receivedyour children,
33 For just as she was glad at your ruin, and she rejoiced in your fall, so also will she be grieved in her own desolation,	33 for just as she rejoiced at your fal and was happy to see you ruined, so wil she grieve over her owndesolation.
34 and the exaltation of her multitude will be cut off, and her gladness will be turned to sorrow.	34 I shall deprive her of the joy of a populous city, and her insolence wil turn to mourning;
35 For fire will overcome her from the Eternal for many days, and she will be inhabited by evil spirits for a long time.	35 fire from the Eternal wil befall her for many a day, and demons wil dwel in her for ages.
36 Look around, Jerusalem, towards the east, and see the happiness that comes to you from God.	36 Jerusalem, turn your eyes to the east, see the joy that is coming to you from God.
37 For behold, your sons approach, whom you sent away scattered. They approach, gathering together, from the east all the way to the west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the honor of 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.