1
She is the scroll containing God's commandments, the Law that exists forever. All who hold on to her will live, but those who desert her will die.
2
Jacob, turn and grab on to her. Travel toward the rays coming from her light.
3
Don't give your honor to another or your advantages to a foreign nation.
4
Israel, we are blessed because we know what is pleasing to God.
Poem of encouragement
5 Be confident, my people, you who are the legacy of Israel!
6
You weren't sold to the nations for complete destruction, but you were handed over to your opponents because you made God angry.
7
You upset your creator when you sacrificed to demons and not to God.
8
You forgot the eternal God who raised you; and you caused pain to Jerusalem, who nurtured you.
9
Jerusalem saw the wrath of God that came on you and said: Neighbors of Zion, listen! God has brought me great grief.
10
I have watched my sons and daughters taken captive, the action of the eternal one.
11
I nursed them joyfully, but I sent them away with tears and mourning.
12
Don't any of you rejoice over me, a widow deserted by many. My children avoided God's Law, so I was stripped bare because of their sins.
13
They didn't acknowledge God's requirements, walk in the ways of God's commandments, or follow the paths in which his righteousness trained them.
14
Neighbors of Zion, come! Remember the exile my sons and daughters suffered, brought on them by the eternal one.
15
God brought a nation from far away against them, a nation that is shameless and speaks a strange language, that showed no respect for the elderly or pity for the child.
16
It took away the widow's dearly loved sons and deprived the lonely woman of her daughters.
17
But how am I able to help you?
18
The one who brought the horrible things on you will rescue you from your enemies' grasp.
19
Go, children, go, for I have been left desolate.
20
I've stripped off the robe of peace and put on the rough cloth of mourners. I'll spend my days crying out to the eternal one.
21
Children, be confident! Cry out to God! God will rescue you from your enemies' authority and grip.
22
I have placed hope in the eternal one for your salvation; the holy one has sent me joy, because your eternal savior will soon have mercy on you.
23
I sent you away with mourning and wailing, but God will restore you to me with gladness and joy forever.
24
Just as Zion's neighbors have now seen your exile, they'll also soon see God's deliverance of you; it will come to you with all the glory and splendor of the eternal one.
25
Children, bear up patiently under God's anger, which has come on you. Your enemy has hunted you down, but you'll soon see their destruction. Then you'll step on their throats.
26
My delicate children have traveled rough roads. They were taken as a flock snatched away by enemies.
27
Children, be confident! Cry out to God, for the one who brought this on you will remember you.
28
Just as you plotted to stray away from God, return with ten times as much effort to seek him out.
29
The one who brought these horrible things on you will bring you eternal joy along with your deliverance.
Comfort for Jerusalem
30 Jerusalem, be confident! The one who named you will comfort you.
31
Misery will fall upon those who mistreated you and celebrated your fall.
32
Misery will fall upon the cities that enslaved your young. Misery will fall upon the cities that received your children.
33
Just as the enemy celebrated your fall and rejoiced at your misfortune, she herself will feel the pain of being left desolate. she has in her great population, and turn her arrogance into grief.
34
I'll strip away the pride
35
The eternal one will send fire on her for many days, and demons will inhabit her for a long time.
36
Jerusalem, look to the east and see the joy that is coming to you from God.
37
The children you sent away are coming. By the holy one's word, they are coming from the east and the west, rejoicing in God's glory.