The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Baruch 04
1 This is the book of God’s commandments and
the law that endures forever.
Allthose whohold itfast will live, butthose
who leave it will die.
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take hold of it. Walk
toward the shining of its light.
3 Don’t give your glory to another, nor
the things that are to your advantage to a
foreign nation.
4 O Israel, we are happy; for the things
that are pleasing to God are made known
to us.
5 Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.
6 You were not sold to the nations for
destruction, but because you moved God
to wrath, you were delivered to your adversaries.
7 For you provoked him who made you
by sacrificing to demons and not to God.
8 You forgot the everlasting God who
brought you up. You also grieved
Jerusalem, who nursed you.
9 For she saw the wrath that came upon
you from God, and said, “Listen, you who
dwell near Zion; for God has brought upon
me great mourning.
10 For Ihave seenthe captivity ofmy sons
and daughters, which the Everlasting has
brought upon them.
11 For with joy I nourished them, but sent
them away with weeping and mourning.
12 Let no man rejoice over me, a widow
and forsaken by many. For the sins of my
children, I am left desolate, because they
turned away from the law of God
13 and had no regard for his statutes.
They didn’t walk in the ways of God’s commandments
or tread in the paths of discipline in his righteousness.
14 Let those who dwell near Zion come
and remember the captivity of my sons
and daughters, which the Everlasting has
brought upon them.
15 For he has brought a nation upon
them from afar, a shameless nation with
a strange language, who didn’t respect old
men or pity children.
16 They have carried away the dear
beloved sons of the widow, and left her
who was alone desolate of her daughters.”
17 But I—how can I help you?
18 For he who brought these calamities
upon you will deliver you from the hand of
your enemies.
19 Go your way, O my children. Go your
way, for I am left desolate.
20 I have put off the garment of peace,
and put on the sackcloth of my petition. I
will cry to the Everlasting as long as I live.
21 Take courage, my children. Cry to God,
and he will deliver you from the power
and hand of the enemies.
22 For I have trusted in the Everlasting,
that he will 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 Savior.
23 For I sent you out with mourning and
weeping, but God will give you to me again
with joy and gladness forever.
24 For as now those who dwell near
Zion have seen your captivity, so they will
shortly see your salvation from our God
which will come upon you with great glory
and brightness of the Everlasting.
25 My children, suffer patiently the
wrath that has come upon you from God,
for your enemy has persecuted you; but
shortly you will see his destruction and
will tread upon their necks.
26 My delicate ones have traveled rough
roads. They were taken away like a flock
carried off by enemies.
27 Take courage, my children, and cry to
God; for you will be remembered by him
who has brought this upon you.
28 For as it was your decision to go astray
from God, return and seek him ten times
more.
29 For he who brought these calamities
upon you will bring you everlasting joy
again with your salvation.
30 Take courage, O Jerusalem, for he who
called you by name will comfort you.
31 Miserable are those who afflicted you
and rejoiced at your fall.
32 Miserable are the cities which your
children served. Miserable is she who
received your sons.
33 For as she rejoiced at your fall and was
glad of your ruin, so she will be grieved at
her own desolation.
34 And I will take away her pride in her
great multitude and her boasting will be
turned into mourning.
35 For fire will come upon her from the
Everlasting for many days; and she will be
inhabited by demons for a long time.
36 O Jerusalem, look around you toward
the east, and behold the joy that comes to
you from God.
37 Behold, your sons come, whom you
sent away. They come gathered together
from the east to the west at the word of the
Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.