IV. 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.

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

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

3  Give not thine honour to another,

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

4  O Israel, happy are we:

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

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

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

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

7  For ye provoked him that made you

By csacrificing unto devils, and not to God.

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

And ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you.

9  For 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;

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

Which othe Everlasting brought upon them.

11  With joy did I nourish them;

But isent them away with weeping and mourning.

12  Let 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.

13  They knew not his statutes,

Nor walked in the ways of his commandments,

Nor trod in the paths * of discipline in his righteousness.

14  Let them dthat dwell about Sion come,

And dremember ye the captivity of my sons and daughters,

Which othe Everlasting hath brought upon them.

15  For 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.

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

And left her that was alone desolate without daughters.

17  But what can I help you?

18  For he that brought these plagues upon you

Will deliver you from the hands of your enemies.

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

For I am left desolate.

20  gI 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.

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

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

22  For 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.

23  For iI sent you out with mourning and weeping:

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

24  Like 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.

25  My 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.

26  * My delicate ones have gone rough ways,

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

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

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

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

So, being returned, seek him lten times more.

29  For he kthat hath brought these plagues upon you

Shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.

30  Take a good heart, O Jerusalem:

For mhe that gave thee that name will comfort thee.

31  Miserable are they that afflicted thee,

And rejoiced at thy fall.

32  Miserable are the cities which thy children served:

Miserable is she that received thy sons.

33  For as she rejoiced at thy ruin,

And was glad of thy fall:

nSo shall she be grieved for her own desolation.

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

And her pride shall be turned into mourning.

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

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

36  pO Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east,

And behold the joy that cometh unto thee from God.

37  Lo, 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.