Baruch - chapter 4

4: 1 - 37 (translated by Edgar Goodspeed)
This is the book of the commandments of God, and the Law, that will endure forever.  All those who hold fast to it will live, but those who forsake it will die.  Come back, Jacob, and take hold of it; approach the radiance from her light.  Do not give your glory to another, and your benefits to an alien people.  Blessed are we, Israel, because we know the things that please God.
Have no fear, my people, for the memorial of Israel; you have been sold to the heathen, not to be destroyed, but because you had angered God you were handed over to your adversaries.  For you provoked Him who made you by sacrificing to demons, and not to God.  You forgot the everlasting God, who had brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, that had reared you, for she saw the anger that has come upon you from God and said,  "Listen, you women who live in Zion.  God has brought great sorrow upon me.  For I have witnessed the capture of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting has brought upon them.  For I nursed them in gladness, but I have sent them away with weeping and sorrow.  Let no one exult over a widow like me, forsaken by so many; I have been left desolate because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the Law of God.  But they would not learn His ordinances, or walk in the ways of God's commands, or follow the paths of correction in His uprightness.  Let the women who live in Zion come, and remember the taking captive of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting has brought upon them.  For He brought a nation from far away against them, a ruthless nation, of strange speech, who had no respect for an old man and no pity for a child, and they led the widow's beloved sons away, and left the lonely woman bereft of her daughters.
"But how can I help you?  For He who has brought these calamities upon you will deliver you from the hands of your enemies.  Go, my children, go, for I am left desolate.  I have taken off the clothing of peace, and put on the sackcloth of my supplication; I will cry out to the Everlasting all my days.   Have courage, my children, cry out to God, and He will save you from subjection, from the hands of your enemies; for I have set on the Everlasting my hope that He will save you, and joy has come to me from the Holy One for the mercy which will soon come to you, from your everlasting Savior.  For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping, but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness forever.  For just as the women who live in Zion have just now seen your deportation, so they will soon see your deliverance come from your God, whilc will come upon you with the great glory and splendor of the Everlasting.  My children, endure patiently the anger that has come upon you from God, for your enemy has overtaken you; but you will soon witness his destruction, and put your feet upon their necks.  My luxurious ones have traveled rough roads, they have been taken away like a flock caried off by enemies.  Have courage, my children, and cry out to God, for you will be remembered by Him who brought this upon you.  For as the thought once came to you to go astray from God, you must return and seek Him with tenfold fervor.  For He who has brought these calamities upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your deliverance."
Take courage, Jerusalem, for He who named you will comfort you.  Those who did you harm and rejoiced at your fall will be miserable; the towns which enslaved your children will be miserable; she who received your sons will be miserable.  For as she rejoiced at your fall, and was glad of your ruin, so she shall be grieved at her own desolation.  And I will take away her exultation in her great population, and her boasting will be turned to sorrow.  For from the Everlasting fire will descend upon her for many days, and she will be a habitation of demons for a long time.  Look away eastward, Jerusalem, and see the gladness that is coming to you from God.  See, your sons are coming, whom you sent away, they are coming, gathered from east to west, at the command of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.