Babylon has fallen, the exiles have started on their way, Jerusalem has prepared herself for their arrival, and now, in this last subsection, they arrive. The prediction of Bar 4.24 comes true.

The writer, who in this major section of Bar 4.5–5.9 has been heavily relying on Isaiah 40–66, at this point turns to another source, The Psalms of Solomon. It may be useful to quote at this point the relevant passage from Wright’s translation of The Psalms of Solomon (11.2-9) in the Charlesworth edition:

2 Stand on a high place, Jerusalem, and look at your children,
from the east and the west assembled together by the Lord.
3 From the north they come in the joy of their God;
from far distant lands God has assembled them.
4 He flattened high mountains into level ground for them;
the hills fled at their coming.
5 The forests shaded them as they passed by;
God made every fragrant tree to grow for them.
6 So that Israel might proceed under the supervision of the glory of their God.
7 Jerusalem, put on (the) clothes of your glory,
prepare the robe of your holiness,
for God has spoken well of Israel forevermore.
8 May the Lord do what he has spoken about Israel and Jerusalem;
may the Lord lift up Israel in the name of his glory.
9 May the mercy of the Lord be upon Israel forevermore.

Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height: Once more, a strong imperative begins the subsection. The Greek words rendered Arise and stand are related words, echoing each other. In English this could have been conveyed with “Stand up … stand.” Together the two verbs urge Jerusalem to rise to a standing position and to take a stand on an elevated place. The text does not actually say “mountaintop” (Good News Translation) but the poet very likely has this in mind. Compare Isa 40.9, which uses the same imagery.

Look toward the east: This clause is exactly the same as in Bar 4.36. The idea is omitted from Good News Translation, but Contemporary English Version includes it with “look east.”

See your children gathered from west and east, at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them: These lines are very close to the corresponding lines in Bar 4.37 (see the comments there). The only particular difference is that west and east are reversed, and that west is literally “setting of the sun.” The correspondence between these two verses is not entirely sacrificed in Good News Translation, although the following sentence from Good News Translation in 4.37 could easily have been repeated here: “They have been gathered together from the east and from the west by the command of God, the Holy One.” Contemporary English Version restructures the sentence in the active voice, and this will be helpful to many translators: “Our Holy God has gathered your children from the east and the west.” For a comment on the Holy One, see Bar 4.22. The last line, rejoicing that God has remembered them, has a close correspondence also to 4.37, but even Revised Standard Version was not able to bring it out. The phrasing in Greek is exactly the same, except that where 4.37 has “glory of God,” this verse has “remembrance of God.” This means, as both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have it, that God has remembered the people. The author is using here the same word, “remembrance,” that was used at Bar 4.27 (see the comments there). In some languages Contemporary English Version will be a helpful model for this line: “and they are celebrating because he hasn’t forgotten them.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.