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Wisdom is the book of God's commandments, the Law that will last forever. All who hold onto her will live, but those who abandon her will die.
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Turn to Wisdom, people of Israel, and take hold of her. Make your way toward the splendor of her light.
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Do not surrender our glorious privileges to any other people.
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How happy we are, people of Israel; we have the advantage of knowing what is pleasing to God!
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Take courage, my people, you are the ones who keep Israel's name alive.
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You were sold to Gentile nations, but not to be destroyed. Because you made God angry, he handed you over to your enemies.
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When you offered sacrifices to demons instead of to God, you angered the one who made you.
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You forgot the Eternal God, who had nourished you as a child, and so you brought grief to Jerusalem, who had been like a mother to you.
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Jerusalem saw that God was punishing you because he was angry, and she said to all the neighboring cities, "Look at the great misery that God has brought on me.
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I saw my sons and daughters taken into captivity, a captivity brought on them by the Eternal God.
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I brought up my children with great delight, but I cried and mourned when they were taken from me.