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1 “ ‘This is the book of the commandments of God and of the law, which exists in eternity. All those who keep it will attain to life, but those who have forsaken it, to death
2 Convert, O Jacob, and embrace it, walk in the way of its splendor, facing its light
3 Do not surrender your glory to another, nor your value to a foreign people
4 We have been happy, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God have been made clear to us
5 Be ever more peaceful in soul, O people of God, the memorial of Israel
6 You have been sold to the nations, not into destruction, but because of this, in resentment, you provoked God to wrath, and so you have been delivered to adversity
7 For you have exasperated him who made you, the eternal God, by sacrificing to evil spirits, and not to God
8 For you have forgotten God, who nurtured you, and you have saddened Jerusalem, your nurse
9 For she saw the wrath of God approaching you, and she said, “Listen, region of Zion, for God has brought upon me great sorrow
10 For I have seen the captivity of my people, my sons and daughters, which the Eternal has led over them
11 For I nurtured them with joy, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow
12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and a desolation, for I am forsaken by many because of the sins of my sons, because they strayed from the law of God
13 And they have not known his righteousness, nor walked in the ways of the commandments of God, nor have they advanced with justice along the paths of his truth
14 Let the region of Zion approach, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal led over them
15 For he has brought a far away people upon them, a guilty people, and of another language
16 who have not reverenced the aged, nor had mercy on the children, and who have led away the beloved of the widow, leaving me deserted and alone, without sons
17 But as for me, how am I able to help you
18 For he who has brought these evils upon you, will rescue you from the hands of your enemies
19 Walk on, sons, walk on, for I have been abandoned and I am alone
20 I have taken off the garment of peace and have put on the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry out to the most High in my days
21 Be ever more peaceful, sons. Cry out to the Lord, and he will rescue you from the hand of the hostile leaders
22 For I have placed my hope in your eternal salvation, and joy approaches me from the Holy One, over the mercy which will come to you by our eternal salvation
23 For I sent you forth with sorrow and weeping, but the Lord will restore you to me with joy and gladness for eternity
24 For just as the neighbors of Zion have seen your captivity from God, so also will they soon see your salvation from God, which will overcome you with great honor and eternal splendor
25 Sons, endure patiently the wrath that has come upon you, for your enemy has persecuted you, but you will quickly see his destruction and you will climb over his neck
26 My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were regarded as a flock torn apart by enemies
27 Be ever more peaceful in soul, sons, and call out to the Lord, for you will be remembered by him who led you away
28 For as much as you thought to go astray from God, ten times as much again he will require of you when converting
29 For he who led you into evil, he himself will again lead you to eternal happiness with your salvation.
30 Be ever more peaceful in soul, Jerusalem, for he who has named you, has been affected by you
31 The criminals who have troubled you, will perish, and those who rejoiced in your ruin, will be punished
32 The cities that your sons have served, will be punished, and also, she who received your sons
33 For just as she was glad at your ruin, and she rejoiced in your fall, so also will she be grieved in her own desolation
34 and the exaltation of her multitude will be cut off, and her gladness will be turned to sorrow
35 For fire will overcome her from the Eternal for many days, and she will be inhabited by evil spirits for a long time
36 Look around, Jerusalem, towards the east, and see the happiness that comes to you from God
37 For behold, your sons approach, whom you sent away scattered. They approach, gathering together, from the east all the way to the west, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the honor of God
Catholic Public Domain Version