5
Take courage, my people, you are the ones who keep Israel's name alive.
6
You were sold to Gentile nations, but not to be destroyed. Because you made God angry, he handed you over to your enemies.
7
When you offered sacrifices to demons instead of to God, you angered the one who made you.
8
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.
9
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.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.