Consolation Series - Part 77


O Jerusalem, look about you toward the east, and behold the joy that comes to you from God. 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.

Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of your mourning and affliction, and put on the beauty of the glory that comes from God forever. Cast about you the robe of the righteousness which comes from God; set a diadem on your head of the glory of the Everlasting. For God will show your brightness to every region under heaven. For your name shall be called of God forever ‘The peace of righteousness,’ and ‘The glory of godliness.’ Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand upon the height, and look about you toward the east, and behold your children gathered from the going down of the sun to the rising thereof at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. For they went from you on foot, being led away of their enemies: but God brings them in to you borne on high with glory, as on a royal throne.  For God has appointed that every high mountain, and the everlasting hills, should be made low, and the valleys filled up, to make plain the ground, that Israel may go safely in the glory of God. Moreover, the woods and every sweet-smelling tree have overshadowed Israel by the commandment of God. For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory with the mercy and righteousness that comes from him.

Baruch 4:36-37, 5:1-9

Photo: Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona