Bar 4:1 

This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that 

endureth for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but 

such as leave it shall die. 

Bar 4:2 

Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence 

of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated. 

Bar 4:3 

Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are 

profitable unto thee to a strange nation. 

Bar 4:4 

O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God 

are made known unto us. 

Bar 4:5 

Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel. 

Bar 4:6 

Ye were sold to the nations, not for [your] destruction: but 

because ye moved God to wrath, ye were delivered unto the 

enemies. 

Bar 4:7 

For ye provoked him that made you by sacrificing unto devils, 

and not to God. 

Bar 4:8 

Ye have forgotten the everlasting God, that brought you up; 

and ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you. 

Bar 4:9 

For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, she said, 

Hearken, O ye that dwell about Sion: God hath brought upon me 

great mourning; 

Bar 4:10 

For I saw the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the 

Everlasting brought upon them. 

Bar 4:11 

With joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping 

and mourning. 

Bar 4:12 

Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many, 

who for the sins of my children am left desolate; because they 

departed from the law of God. 

Bar 4:13 

They knew not his statutes, nor walked in the ways of his 

commandments, nor trod in the paths of discipline in his 

righteousness. 

Bar 4:14 

Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember ye the 

captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting hath 

brought upon them. 

Bar 4:15 

For he hath brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless 

nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old 

man, nor pitied child. 

Bar 4:16 

These have carried away the dear beloved children of the 

widow, and left her that was alone desolate without daughters. 

Bar 4:17 

But what can I help you? 

Bar 4:18 

For he that brought these plagues upon you will deliver you 

from the hands of your enemies. 

Bar 4:19 

Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left 

desolate. 

Bar 4:20 

I have put off the clothing of peace, and put upon me the 

sackcloth of my prayer: I will cry unto the Everlasting in my 

days. 

Bar 4:21 

Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto the Lord, and he 

will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies. 

Bar 4:22 

For my hope is in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and 

joy is come unto me from the Holy One, because of the mercy 

which shall soon come unto you from the Everlasting our Saviour. 

Bar 4:23 

For I sent you out with mourning and weeping: but God will 

give you to me again with joy and gladness for ever. 

Bar 4:24 

Like as now the neighbours of Sion have seen your captivity: 

so shall they see shortly your salvation from our God which 

shall come upon you with great glory, and brightness of the 

Everlasting. 

Bar 4:25 

My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you 

from God: for thine enemy hath persecuted thee; but shortly thou 

shalt see his destruction, and shalt tread upon his neck. 

Bar 4:26 

My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken away as 

a flock caught of the enemies. 

Bar 4:27 

Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto God: for ye 

shall be remembered of him that brought these things upon you. 

Bar 4:28 

For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so, being 

returned, seek him ten times more. 

Bar 4:29 

For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring 

you everlasting joy with your salvation. 

Bar 4:30 

Take a good heart, O Jerusalem: for he that gave thee that 

name will comfort thee. 

Bar 4:31 

Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy 

fall. 

Bar 4:32 

Miserable are the cities which thy children served: miserable 

is she that received thy sons. 

Bar 4:33 

For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so 

shall she be grieved for her own desolation. 

Bar 4:34 

For I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude, 

and her pride shall be turned into mourning. 

Bar 4:35 

For fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to 

endure; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time. 

Bar 4:36 

O Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east, and behold the 

joy that cometh unto thee from God. 

Bar 4:37 

Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered 

together from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, 

rejoicing in the glory of God.