1She is the book of the commandments of God,

the law that endures for ever.

All who hold her fast will live,

and those who forsake her will die.

2Turn, O Jacob, and take her;

walk towards the shining of her light.

3Do not give your glory to another,

or your advantages to an alien people.

4Happy are we, O Israel,

for we know what is pleasing to God.

Encouragement for Israel

5Take courage, my people,

who perpetuate Israel's name!

6It was not for destruction

that you were sold to the nations,

but you were handed over to your enemies

because you angered God.

7For you provoked the one who made you

by sacrificing to demons and not to God.

8You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,

and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.

9For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,

and she said:

Listen, you neighbours of Zion,

God has brought great sorrow upon me;

10for I have seen the exile of my sons and daughters,

which the Everlasting brought upon them.

11With joy I nurtured them,

but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.

12Let no one rejoice over me, a widow

and bereaved of many;

I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,

because they turned away from the law of God.

13They had no regard for his statutes;

they did not walk in the ways of God's commandments,

or tread the paths his righteousness showed them.

14Let the neighbours of Zion come;

remember the capture of my sons and daughters,

which the Everlasting brought upon them.

15For he brought a distant nation against them,

a nation ruthless and of a strange language,

which had no respect for the aged

and no pity for a child.

16They led away the widow's beloved sons,

and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.

17But I, how can I help you?

18For he who brought these calamities upon you

will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.

19Go, my children, go;

for I have been left desolate.

20I have taken off the robe of peace

and put on sackcloth for my supplication;

I will cry to the Everlasting all my days.

21Take courage, my children, cry to God,

and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.

22For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,

and joy has come to me from the Holy One,

because of the mercy that will soon come to you

from your everlasting saviour.4.22 Or from the Everlasting, your saviour

23For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,

but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.

24For as the neighbours of Zion have now seen your capture,

so they soon will see your salvation by God,

which will come to you with great glory

and with the splendour of the Everlasting.

25My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.

Your enemy has overtaken you,

but you will soon see their destruction

and will tread upon their necks.

26My pampered children have travelled rough roads;

they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.

27Take courage, my children, and cry to God,

for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.

28For just as you were disposed to go astray from God,

return with tenfold zeal to seek him.

29For the one who brought these calamities upon you

will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

Jerusalem Is Assured of Help

30Take courage, O Jerusalem,

for the one who named you will comfort you.

31Wretched will be those who mistreated you

and who rejoiced at your fall.

32Wretched will be the cities that your children served as slaves;

wretched will be the city that received your offspring.

33For just as she rejoiced at your fall

and was glad at your ruin,

so she will be grieved at her own desolation.

34I will take away her pride in her great population,

and her insolence will be turned to grief.

35For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days,

and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons.

36Look towards the east, O Jerusalem,

and see the joy that is coming to you from God.

37Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away;

they are coming, gathered from east and west,

at the word of the Holy One,

rejoicing in the glory of God.