Baruch 4

This is the book of the commandments of God,

And the law that endureth for ever:

All they that keep it shall come to life;

But such as leave it shall die.

²Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it:

Walk in the presence of the light thereof, ^athat thou mayest be illuminated.

³Give not thine honour to another,

Nor the things that are profitable unto thee, to a strange nation.

⁴O Israel, happy are we:

For things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us.

⁵Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.

^6bYe were sold to the nations, not for your destruction:

But because you moved God to wrath, ye were delivered unto the enemies.

⁷For ye provoked him that made you

By ^csacrificing unto devils, and not to God.

⁸Ye have forgotten ^othe everlasting God, that brought you up;

And ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you.

⁹For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, she said,

Hearken, O ^dye that dwell about Sion:

God hath brought upon me great mourning;

¹⁰For I saw ^dthe captivity of my sons and daughters,

Which ^othe Everlasting brought upon them.

¹¹With joy did I nourish them;

But ⁱsent them away with weeping and mourning.

¹²Let no man rejoice over me, ^ea widow, and forsaken of many,

Who for the sins of my children am left desolate;

Because they departed from the law of God.

¹³They knew not his statutes,

Nor walked in the ways of his commandments,

Nor trod in the paths of discipline in his righteousness.

¹⁴Let them ^dthat dwell about Sion come,

And ^dremember ye the captivity of my sons and daughters,

Which ^othe Everlasting hath brought upon them.

¹⁵For ^fhe hath brought a nation upon them from far,

A shameless nation, and of a strange language,

^fWho neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.

¹⁶These have carried away the dear beloved children of the widow,

And left her that was alone desolate without daughters.

¹⁷But what can I help you?

¹⁸For he that brought these plagues upon you

Will deliver you from the hands of your enemies.

¹⁹Go your way, O my children, go your way:

For I am left desolate.

^20gI have put off the clothing of peace,

And put upon me the sackcloth of my prayer:

I will cry unto ^othe Everlasting ^hin my days.

²¹Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto the Lord,

And he shall deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies.

²²For my hope is in the Everlasting, that he will save you;

And joy is come unto me from the Holy One,

Because of the mercy which shall soon come unto you from ^othe Everlasting our Saviour.

²³For ⁱI sent you out with mourning and weeping:

But God will give you to me again with ^jjoy and gladness for ever.

²⁴Like as now ^dthe neighbours of Sion have seen your captivity:

So shall they see shortly your salvation from our God,

Which shall come upon you with great glory,

And ^abrightness of ^othe Everlasting.

²⁵My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you from God:

For thine enemy hath persecuted thee;

But shortly thou shalt see his destruction,

And shalt tread upon his neck.

²⁶My delicate ones have gone rough ways,

And were taken away as a flock caught of the enemies.

²⁷Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto God:

For you shall be remembered of him ^kthat brought these things upon you.

²⁸For as it was your mind ^kkto go astray from God:

So, being returned, seek him ^lten times more.

²⁹For he ^kthat hath brought these plagues upon you

Shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.

³⁰Take a good heart, O Jerusalem:

For ^mhe that gave thee that name will comfort thee.

³¹Miserable are they that afflicted thee,

And rejoiced at thy fall.

³²Miserable are the cities which thy children served:

Miserable is she that received thy sons.

³³For as she rejoiced at thy ruin,

And was glad of thy fall:

ⁿSo shall she be grieved for her own desolation.

³⁴ⁿFor I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude,

And her pride shall be turned into mourning.

³⁵For fire shall come upon her from ^othe Everlasting, long to endure;

And ⁿshe shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.

^36pO Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east,

And behold the joy that cometh unto thee from God.

³⁷Lo, ^pqthy sons come, ⁱwhom thou sentest away,

They come gathered together from the east to the west

^pBy the word of the Holy One,

Rejoicing in the glory of God.

V.