Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.
Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
Baruch 5:1-9
Jerusalem, your streets are standing empty, your children led away as spoils of war. The walls that stood between you and the desert have crumbled now, protecting you no more. You say you've been abandoned by the Father, though you had slain the best within your flock, but you laid down your infants on the altar and poured you people's blood upon the rocks. When shall God look again upon your fasting and offer you rewards to keep his ways? When you have turned the deserts into pastures and made it so your sheep may safely graze. When you have turned the waste into a garden, undammed the stream to let the flowers bloom, oh, then and only then shall you have pardon. Then light shall break upon you in your gloom. Cast down your princes; lift up all your lowly, and make at last a smooth and level way. Throw out your idols—love your Maker wholly, and see again the dawning of your day.
Kate Bluett 