4 She is the book of the commandments of God,
and the law that endures for ever.
All who hold her fast will live,
and those who forsake her will die.
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her;
walk toward the shining of her light.
3 Do not give your glory to another,
or your advantages to an alien people.
4 Happy are we, O Israel,
for we know what is pleasing to God.
Encouragement for Israel
5 Take courage, my people,
O memorial of Israel!
6 It was not for destruction
that you were sold to the nations,
but you were handed over to your enemies
because you angered God.
7 For you provoked him who made you,
by sacrificing to demons and not to God.
8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,
and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.
9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,
and she said:
“Hearken, you neighbors of Zion,
God has brought great sorrow upon me;
10 for I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters,
which the Everlasting brought upon them.
11 With joy I nurtured them,
but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.
12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow
and bereaved of many;
I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,
because they turned away from the law of God.
13 They had no regard for his statutes;
they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments,
nor tread the paths of discipline in his righteousness.
14 Let the neighbors of Zion come;
remember the capture of my sons and daughters,
which the Everlasting brought upon them.
15 For he brought against them a nation from afar,
a shameless nation, of a strange language,
who had no respect for an old man,
and had no pity for a child.
16 They led away the widow’s beloved sons,
and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.
17 “But I, how can I help you?
18 For he who brought these calamities upon you
will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
19 Go, my children, go;
for I have been left desolate.
20 I have taken off the robe of peace
and put on the sackcloth of my supplication;
I will cry to the Everlasting all my days.
21 “Take courage, my children, cry to God,
and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
22 For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy which soon will come to you
from your everlasting Savior.[a]
23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,
but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
24 For as the neighbors of Zion have now seen your capture,
so they soon will see your salvation by God,
which will come to you with great glory
and with the splendor of the Everlasting.
25 My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has overtaken you,
but you will soon see their destruction
and will tread upon their necks.
26 My tender sons have traveled rough roads;
they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.
27 “Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
for you will be remembered by him who brought this upon you.
28 For just as you purposed to go astray from God,
return with tenfold zeal to seek him.
29 For he who brought these calamities upon you
will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.”
Jerusalem Is Assured of Help
30 Take courage, O Jerusalem,
for he who named you will comfort you.
31 Wretched will be those who afflicted you
and rejoiced at your fall.
32 Wretched will be the cities which your children served as slaves;
wretched will be the city which received your sons.
33 For just as she rejoiced at your fall
and was glad for your ruin,
so she will be grieved at her own desolation.
34 And I will take away her pride in her great population,
and her insolence will be turned to grief.
35 For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days,
and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons.
36 Look toward the east, O Jerusalem,
and see the joy that is coming to you from God!
37 Behold, your sons are coming, whom you sent away;
they are coming, gathered from east and west,
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing in the glory of God.
Footnotes
- Baruch 4:22 Or from the Everlasting, your Savior