Chapter 2 _{3 I brought you up with gladness; but with sorrow and heaviness have I lost you: for ye have sinned before the Lord your God, and done that thing that is evil before him.4 But what shall I now do unto you? I am a widow and forsaken: go your way, O my children, and ask mercy of the Lord.5 As for me, O father, I call upon thee for a witness over the mother of these children, which would not keep my covenant,6 That thou bring them to confusion, and their mother to a spoil, that there may be no offspring of them.7 Let them be scattered abroad among the heathen, let their names be put out of the earth: for they have despised my covenant.8 Woe be unto thee, Assur, thou that hidest the unrighteous in thee! O thou wicked people, remember what I did unto Sodom and Gomorrha;9 Whose land lieth in clods of pitch and heaps of ashes: even so also will I do unto them that hear me not, saith the Almighty Lord.10 Thus saith the Lord unto Esdras, Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given unto Israel.11 Their glory also will I take unto me, and give these the everlasting tabernacles, which I had prepared for them.12 They shall have the tree of life for an ointment of sweet savour; they shall neither labour, nor be weary.13 Go, and ye shall receive: pray for few days unto you, that they may be shortened: the kingdom is already prepared for you: watch.14 Take heaven and earth to witness; for I have broken the evil in pieces, and created the good: for I live, saith the Lord.15 Mother, embrace thy children, and bring them up with gladness, make their feet as fast as a pillar: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.16 And those that be dead will I raise up again from their places, and bring them out of the graves: for I have known my name in Israel.17 Fear not, thou mother of the children: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.18 For thy help will I send my servants Esau and Jeremy, after whose counsel I have sanctified and prepared for thee twelve trees laden with divers fruits,19 And as many fountains flowing with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains, whereupon there grow roses and lilies, whereby I will fill thy children with joy.20 Do right to the widow, judge for the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked,21 Heal the broken and the weak, laugh not a lame man to scorn, defend the maimed, and let the blind man come into the sight of my clearness.22 Keep the old and young within thy walls.23 Wheresoever thou findest the dead, take them and bury them, and I will give thee the first place in my resurrection.24 Abide still, O my people, and take thy rest, for thy quietness still come.25 Nourish thy children, O thou good nurse; stablish their feet.}