Baruch, 4

1. She is the book of God's commandments, the Law that stands for ever; those who keep her shall live, those who desert her shall die.

1. 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 back, Jacob, seize her, in her radiance make your way to light:

2. Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated.

3. do not yield your glory to another, your privilege to a people not your own.

3. Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation.

4. Israel, blessed are we: what pleases God has been revealed to us!

4. O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us.

5. Take courage, my people, memorial of Israel!

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

6. You were sold to the nations, but not for extermination. You provoked God; and so were delivered to your enemies,

6. Ye were sold to the nations, not for [your] destruction: but because ye moved God to wrath, ye were delivered unto the enemies.

7. since you had angered your Creator by offering sacrifices to demons, and not to God.

7. For ye provoked him that made you by sacrificing unto devils, and not to God.

8. You had forgotten the eternal God who reared you. You had also grieved Jerusalem who nursed you,

8. Ye have forgotten the everlasting God, that brought you up; and ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you.

9. for when she saw God's anger falling on you, she said: Listen, you neighbours of Zion: God has sent me great sorrow.

9. For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, she said, Hearken, O ye that dwell about Sion: God hath brought upon me great mourning;

10. I have seen my sons and daughters taken into captivity, which the Eternal brought down on them.

10. For I saw the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them.

11. I had reared them joyfully; in tears, in sorrow, I watched them go away.

11. With joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping and mourning.

12. Do not, any of you, exult over me, a widow, deserted by so many; I am bereaved because of the sins of my children, who turned away from the Law of God,

12. Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many, who for the sins of my children am left desolate; because they departed from the law of God.

13. who did not want to know his precepts and would not follow the ways of his commandments or tread the paths of discipline as his justice directed.

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. Come here, neighbours of Zion! Remember my sons' and daughters' captivity, which the Eternal brought down on them.

14. Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember ye the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting hath brought upon them.

15. How he brought a distant nation down on them, a ruthless nation speaking a foreign language, they showed neither respect for the aged, nor pity for the child;

15. For he hath brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.

16. they carried off the widow's cherished sons, they left her quite alone, bereft of her daughters.

16. These have carried away the dear beloved children of the widow, and left her that was alone desolate without daughters.

17. For my part, how could I help you?

17. But what can I help you?

18. He who brought those disasters down on you, is the one to deliver you from your enemies' clutches.

18. For he that brought these plagues upon you will deliver you from the hands of your enemies.

19. Go, my children, go your way! I must stay bereft and lonely;

19. Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left desolate.

20. I have taken off the clothes of peace and put on the sackcloth of entreaty; all my life I shall cry to the Eternal.

20. I have put off the clothing of peace, and put upon me the sackcloth of my prayer: I will cry unto the Everlasting in my days.

21. Take courage, my children, call on God: he will deliver you from tyranny, from the clutches of your enemies;

21. Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto the Lord, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies.

22. for I look to the Eternal for your rescue, and joy has come to me from the Holy One at the mercy soon to reach you from your Saviour, the Eternal.

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 the Everlasting our Saviour.

23. In sorrow and tears I watched you go away, but God will give you back to me in joy and gladness for ever.

23. For I sent you out with mourning and weeping: but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness for ever.

24. As the neighbours of Zion have now witnessed your captivity, so will they soon see your rescue by God, which will come upon you with great glory and splendour of the Eternal.

24. Like as now the 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 brightness of the Everlasting.

25. My children, patiently bear the anger brought on you by God. Your enemy has persecuted you, but soon you will witness his destruction and set your foot on his neck.

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 favourite children have travelled by rough roads, carried off like a flock by a marauding enemy.

26. My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken away as a flock caught of the enemies.

27. Take courage, my children, call on God: he who brought this on you will remember you.

27. Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto God: for ye shall be remembered of him that brought these things upon you.

28. As by your will you first strayed from God, so now turn back and search for him ten times harder;

28. For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so, being returned, seek him ten times more.

29. for as he has been bringing down those disasters on you, so will he rescue you and give you eternal joy.

29. For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

30. Take courage, Jerusalem: he who gave you your name will console you.

30. Take a good heart, O Jerusalem: for he that gave thee that name will comfort thee.

31. Disaster will come to all who have ill-treated you and gloated over your fall.

31. Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy fall.

32. Disaster will come to the cities where your children were slaves; disaster to whichever one received your children,

32. Miserable are the cities which thy children served: miserable is she that received thy sons.

33. for just as she rejoiced at your fall and was happy to see you ruined, so will she grieve over her own desolation.

33. For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.

34. I shall deprive her of the joy of a populous city, and her insolence will turn to mourning;

34. For I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude, and her pride shall be turned into mourning.

35. fire from the Eternal will befall her for many a day, and demons will dwell in her for ages.

35. For fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to endure; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.

36. Jerusalem, turn your eyes to the east, see the joy that is coming to you from God.

36. O Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east, and behold the joy that cometh unto thee from God.

37. Look, the children you watched go away are on their way home; reassembled from east and west, they are on their way home at the Holy One's command, rejoicing in God's glory.

37. Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered together from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.