Chapter 4
1 She is the book of God’s commandments,
the law that endures forever.
All who adhere to her will live,
but those who forsake her will die.
2 Return, O Jacob, and lay hold of her;
approach the radiance of her light.
3 Do not yield your glory to another
or your privileges to a foreign people.
4 Blessed are we, O Israel,
for what is pleasing to God has been revealed to us.
Prophetic Discourse of Exhortation and Consolation for Jerusalem
The Exile
5 Rouse your courage, my people,
you who keep alive the memory of Israel.
6 You were sold to the nations
but not for the purpose of your destruction.
You were handed over to your enemies
because you provoked God’s indignation.
7 You offended the one who made you
by offering sacrifices to demons and not to God.
8 You turned your back on the Everlasting who nourished you,
and caused sorrow for Jerusalem who reared you.
9 She saw the wrath of God descending upon you,
and she exclaimed:
“Listen, you neighbors of Zion.
God has afflicted me with great sorrow.
10 For I have beheld the exile of my sons and daughters
that the Everlasting has brought upon them.
11 Joyfully I raised them,
but with tears and lamenting I had to watch them depart.
12 Let not one of you rejoice over my fate,
a widow who has lost so many of her own;
I have been left desolate because of the sins of my children
who deviated from the law of God.
13 They refused to obey his statutes,
and did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments
or follow the paths of discipline that his justice required.
14 Let Zion’s neighbors come
to observe the captivity of my sons and daughters
that the Everlasting has inflicted upon them.
15 He caused a faraway nation to war against them,
a ruthless nation speaking a foreign tongue,
that showed neither respect for the aged
nor pity for the young.
16 They have led into exile the widow’s beloved sons
and left her alone, without a solitary surviving daughter.
The Deliverance
17 “How can I possibly be of help to you?
18 The one who afflicted you with these disasters
will deliver you from the power of your enemies.
19 Go, my children, go,
for I have been left desolate.
20 I have removed my robes of peace
and donned sackcloth for prayers of supplication;
throughout my life I will cry out to the Everlasting.
21 “Take courage, my children; call out to God,
and he will deliver you from oppression
and from the hands of your enemies.
22 I place my trust in the Everlasting for your deliverance,
and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
from the Everlasting, your Savior.
23 With mourning and laments I watched you depart,
but God will give you back to me with everlasting joy and gladness.
24 For as the neighbors of Zion have witnessed your captivity,
they will soon behold your deliverance by your God,
which will come to you with the great glory and splendor of the Everlasting.
25 “My children, endure with patience the wrath
that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has persecuted you,
but shortly you will witness his destruction
and trample upon his neck with your foot.
26 My delicate children have had to traverse rocky paths,
taken away like sheep carried off by the enemy.
27 Have courage, my children, and cry out to God;
he who has thus afflicted you will not forget you.
28 As the thought once came to you to go astray from God,
now you must increase your efforts tenfold to seek him.
29 He who afflicted you with these disasters
will bring you everlasting joy with your deliverance.”
Jerusalem Assured of Help
30 Take courage, Jerusalem!
The one who gave you your name will comfort you.
31 Great will be the terror of those who harmed you
and rejoiced over your ill-fortune.
32 Disaster awaits those cities where your children were slaves,
wretched the city that received your offspring.
33 Just as that city rejoiced at your downfall
and was exultant to witness your ruin,
so shall she grieve over her own devastation.
34 I shall despoil her of the multitudes in which she took such joy,
and her insolent pride shall be turned to mourning.
35 Fire from the Everlasting will besiege her for many days,
and demons will inhabit her for a lengthy period of time.
Invitation to Hope
36 Gaze toward the east, Jerusalem,
and behold the joy that is coming to you from God.
37 The children whom you saw depart are returning;
they are returning, gathered together from the east and the west,
at the command of the Holy One,
rejoicing in the glory of God.
Footnotes
- Baruch 4:8
