Now in the things which are being said the chief point is this: We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the  ¹heavens,

A  ¹Minister of the  ²holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

For every high priest is established for the offering of both  ¹gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this One also have something which He may offer.

Now then if He were on earth, He would not be a Priest at all, there being those who offer the gifts according to the law,

Who serve the  ¹example and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to complete the tabernacle; for, “See,” He said, “that you make all things according to the pattern that was shown to you in the mountain.”

But now He has obtained a more excellent  ¹ministry inasmuch as He is also the  ²Mediator of a  ³better covenant, which has been  ⁴enacted upon  ⁵better promises.

For if that  ¹first covenant had been faultless, no  ²place would have been sought for a second.

For finding fault with them He says, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will consummate a new covenant upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah,

Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My  ¹laws into their  ²mind, and on their hearts I will  ³inscribe them; and  ⁴I will be God to them, and  ⁵they will be a people to Me.

And they shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all will  ¹know Me from the little one to the great one among them.

For I will be  ¹propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore.”

In saying, A new covenant, He has made the  ¹first old. But that which is becoming old and growing decrepit is near to disappearing.

The word which Jehovah spoke concerning  ¹Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

Declare among the nations and proclaim;
Lift up a banner, proclaim it.
Do not conceal it, but say,
Babylon is captured;
 ¹Bel is put to shame;
 ¹Merodach is shattered;
Her images are put to shame;
Her idols are dismayed.

For a  ¹nation has come up against her from the north;
It will make her land a waste,
And there will be no inhabitant in it;
Both man and beast have fled; they are gone away.

In those days and at that time, declares Jehovah,
The children of Israel will come,
Both they and the children of Judah together;
They will go along with weeping as they go,
And they will seek Jehovah their God.

They will ask for the way to Zion
With their faces toward it, saying:
Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah
In an eternal covenant that will not be forgotten.

My people are lost sheep;
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have made them turn aside on the mountains;
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.

All who found them have devoured them,
And their adversaries have said, We are not guilty,
Because they have sinned against Jehovah,
The  ¹habitation of righteousness,
Even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.

 ¹Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And go out from the land of the Chaldeans,
And be as male goats
Before the flock.

For I am about to stir up and bring up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the land of the north;
And they will set themselves in array against her,
And she will be taken captive from there.
Their arrows will be like those of an expert mighty man;
None will return empty-handed.

And Chaldea will become spoil;
All those who spoil her will be satisfied, declares Jehovah.

Because you rejoiced, because you exulted,
O you who plunder My inheritance,
Because you spring about as a threshing heifer,
And you neigh like stallions,

Your mother has been greatly ashamed;
She who bore you has become a reproach: =Indeed, she has become the last of the nations,
A wilderness, a dry land and a desert.

Because of the wrath of Jehovah she will not be inhabited,
But she will become a complete desolation;
For every one who passes by Babylon will be astonished
And will hiss at all her wounds.

Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All those who bend the bow;
Shoot at her; spare no arrow;
Because she has sinned against Jehovah;

Raise a shout against her all around.
She has surrendered; her buttresses have fallen,
Her walls have been torn down;
For this is the vengeance of Jehovah:
Take  ¹vengeance on her;
As she has done, so do to her.

Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And the one who handles a sickle in the time of harvest;
Because of the sword of the oppressor
Each one will turn to his people,
And each one flee to his own land.

Israel is a scattered sheep;
Lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last this Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.

Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria.

And I will bring Israel back to his habitation,
And he will feed on Carmel and Bashan,
And in the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead
He will satisfy his soul.

In those days and at that time, declares Jehovah,
The iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none;
And the sin of Judah, but it will not be found;
For I will forgive those whom I will leave as a remnant.

Go up against her, against the land of  ¹Merathaim
And against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Desolate and utterly destroy them, declares Jehovah,
And do according to all that I commanded you.

The sound of war is in the land,
And great destruction.

How the hammer of the whole earth
Is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become an astonishment
Among the nations!

I have set a snare for you, and you also have been taken captive,
O Babylon, and you did not know;
You were found, and you also were seized,
Because you engaged in war with Jehovah.

Jehovah has opened His armory
And has brought out the weapons of His wrath,
For this is the work of the Lord Jehovah of hosts
Against the land of the Chaldeans.

Come against her from every side;
Open her granaries.
Pile her up like heaps;
Destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her remain.

Slay all her oxen;
Let them go down to slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
The time of their punishment.

There is a sound of those who flee and escape
From the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion
The vengeance of Jehovah our God,
The  ¹vengeance for His temple.

Summon  ¹archers against Babylon,
All those who bend the bow.
Encamp against her all around;
Let there be no escape.
Recompense her according to her work;
According to all that she has done, so do to her.
For she has acted proudly against Jehovah,
Against the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore her young men will fall in her open squares,
And all her men of war will be silenced in that day,
Declares Jehovah.

Indeed, I am against you, O  ¹Pride,
Declares the Lord Jehovah of hosts;
For your day has come,
The time that I punish you.

And Pride will stumble and fall,
And there will be no one to raise him up.
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all that is around him.

Thus says Jehovah of hosts,
The children of Israel
And the children of Judah are oppressed together; And all who took them captive held them fast;
They refused to let them go.

Their Redeemer is strong;
Jehovah of hosts is His name.
He will surely plead their cause,
That He may give rest to the land
But trouble to the inhabitants of Babylon.

The sword is against the Chaldeans, declares Jehovah,
And against the inhabitants of Babylon
And against her princes and against her wise men.

The sword is against the liars, and they will become fools;
The sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.

The sword is against  ¹their horses and against  ¹their chariots
And against all the mingled people who are in her midst,
And they will become like women.
The sword is against her treasuries,
And they will be plundered.

Drought is upon her waters,
And they will dry up;
For it is a land of graven images,
And they are mad over terrifying idols.

Therefore desert animals will dwell there with hyenas,
And ostriches will dwell in her.
It will not be inhabited forever;
It will not be dwelt in from generation to generation.

As when God overthrew Sodom
And Gomorrah with its neighbors,
Declares Jehovah,
So no one will dwell there;
Nor will a son of man sojourn in it.

A people is now coming from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Are stirring from the uttermost parts of the earth.

They grasp bow and spear;
They are cruel and have no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,
And they ride upon horses,
Set in array as a man for battle
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands are feeble;
Distress has seized him,
Pain like a woman in childbirth.

Indeed, one will come up like a lion
From the majesty of the Jordan against a secure habitation;
For I will suddenly make them run away from her;
And whoever is chosen I will appoint over her.
For who is like Me? And who can appoint Me a time?
And who is that shepherd who can stand before Me?

Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah,
Which He purposed against Babylon,
And His thoughts, which He has thought
Against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely they will drag them off, the little ones of the flock;
Surely He will make their habitation a desolation because of them.

At the sound of Babylon being seized
The earth trembles,
And a cry is heard among the nations.

Thus says Jehovah,
I will stir up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of  ¹Leb-kamai
A destroying wind.

And I will send  ¹strangers against Babylon, and they will winnow her,
And they will empty her land
When they come against her from every side
In the evil day.

Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow,
And against him who stands up in his armor;
And let them not spare her young men,
But let them utterly destroy all her army.

And they will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans
And pierced through in her streets.

For neither Israel nor Judah is forsaken
By his God, by Jehovah of hosts;
But  ¹their land is full of guilt
Against the Holy One of Israel.

 ¹Flee from the midst of Babylon,
And let each man save his life;
Do not be cut off in her iniquity;
For this is a time of vengeance to Jehovah;
He will give full recompense to her.

Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand
That has made all the earth drunk.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
Therefore the nations have become mad.

Suddenly Babylon has fallen and become broken;
Howl over her;
Take balm for her pain,If perhaps she may be healed.

We tried to heal Babylon, but she is not healed;
Forsake her, and let each one of us go to his own land;
For her judgment has reached to heaven
And has been lifted up to the clouds.

Jehovah has brought forth our righteousnesses;
Come and let us relate in Zion
The work of Jehovah our God.

Polish the arrows,
Take up the shields.
Jehovah has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon, to destroy her; for this is the  ¹vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance for His temple.

Lift up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
Make the watch strong.
Set the watchmen;
Prepare the ambushers;
For Jehovah has both purposed and done
What He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

O you who dwell by many waters,
Abundant in treasures,
Your end has come,
The measure of your unjust gain.

Jehovah of hosts has sworn by Himself,
I will surely fill you with men like locusts,
And they will raise a shout of victory over you.

It is He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom,
And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And He causes the vapors to rise from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain
And brings forth wind from His treasuries.

Every man is stupid, without knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol;
For his molten image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.

They are vanity, the work of delusion;
At the time of their punishment they will perish.

The Portion of Jacob is not like these;
For He is the One who formed everything,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
Jehovah of hosts is His name.

He says, You are My hammer,
My weapons of war;
And with you I will shatter nations,
And with you I will destroy kingdoms

And with you I will shatter the horse and his rider,
And with you I will shatter the chariot and its rider,

And with you I will shatter man and woman,
And with you I will shatter old man and young,
And with you I will shatter young man and virgin,

And with you I will shatter the shepherd and his flock,
And with you I will shatter the farmer and his yoke of oxen,
And with you I will shatter governors and officials.

And I will repay Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
With all their evil which they have done
In Zion before your eyes, declares Jehovah.

Indeed, I am against you, O mountain of destruction,
Declares Jehovah,
Which destroys the whole earth;
And I will stretch out My hand upon you
And roll you down from the rocks
And make you a burning mountain.

And they will not take from you a stone for the corner
Or a stone for the foundations;
For you will be an eternal desolation, declares Jehovah.

Lift up a standard in the land;
Blow a trumpet among the nations;
Prepare the nations against her;
Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
Appoint an officer against her;
Bring up the horses like terrifying locusts.

Prepare the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
 ¹Their governors and all  ¹their officials,
And all the land of  ²their dominion.

And the land trembles and writhes,
For the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon a waste,
Without inhabitant.

The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting;
They remain in strongholds;
Their might has failed; they have become like women.
Her dwellings are on fire; her bars are broken.

Runner runs to meet runner,
And messenger to meet messenger,
To announce to the king of Babylon
That his city has been captured from end to end.

And the crossing places have been seized,
And they burn the marshes with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.

For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel,
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
At the time when it is trodden;
Yet a little while and the time of harvest will come to her.

Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
He has crushed me;
He has made me an empty vessel;
He has swallowed me up like a dragon;
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me out.

The violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon!
The inhabitant of Zion will say;
And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!
Jerusalem will say.

Therefore thus says Jehovah,
I will indeed plead your cause
And execute vengeance for you;
And I will dry up her sea
And make her fountain dry.

And Babylon will become a heap of ruins,
A habitation of jackals,
An astonishment and a hissing,
Without inhabitant.

They will roar together like young lions;
They will growl like lions' whelps.

When they are inflamed, I will set out their drink;
And I will make them drunk, that they may be merry
And sleep an eternal sleep
And not wake up, declares Jehovah.

And I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
Like rams with male goats.

How Sheshach has been captured,
And the praise of all the earth seized!
How Babylon has become an astonishment
Among the nations!

The sea has come up over Babylon;
She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

Her cities have become a waste,
A dry land and a desert,
A land in which no one dwells,
Through which no person passes.

And I will punish  ¹Bel in Babylon
And bring what he has swallowed out of his mouth;
And the nations will not stream unto him any longer;
Even the wall of Babylon will fall down.

 ¹Come out from the midst of her, My people,
And let each man save his life
From the burning anger of Jehovah.

And lest your heart faint
And you become afraid at the report that will be heard in the land —
For the report will come in one year;
And after that a report in another year
And violence in the earth,
Ruler against ruler —

Therefore indeed, days are coming,
When I will punish the idols of Babylon;
And her whole land will be put to shame,
And all her slain will fall in her midst.

And the heavens and the earth and all which is in them
Will give a ringing shout over Babylon;
For out of the north the destroyers will come against her,
Declares Jehovah.

Babylon is also to fall for the slain of Israel,
As all the slain of the earth have fallen for Babylon.

You who have escaped the sword,
Go and do not stand still;
Remember Jehovah from afar,
And let Jerusalem come up in your heart.

We have been put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
Disgrace has covered our faces;
For strangers have come
Into the holy places of the house of Jehovah.

Therefore indeed, days are coming,
Declares Jehovah,
When I will punish her idols,
And throughout her land the wounded will groan.

Though Babylon mount up to the heavens,
And though she fortify the height of her strength,
Destroyers will come from Me to her,
Declares Jehovah.

The sound of a cry from Babylon,
And great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

For Jehovah is destroying Babylon,
And He will cause the loud voice to perish from her.
And  ¹their waves roar like many waters;
The noise of their voice is raised.

For a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon,
And her mighty men are taken captive;
Their bows are broken into pieces; =For Jehovah is a God of recompense;
He will repay in full.

And I will make her princes and her wise men drunk,
Her governors and her officials and her mighty men;
And they will sleep an eternal sleep
And not wake up, declares the King,
Whose name is Jehovah of hosts.

Thus says Jehovah of hosts,
The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly laid bare;
Her high gates will be burned with fire.
So the peoples will have labored in vain;
And the nations, only for fire; and they will have wearied themselves.

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. (Now Seraiah was quartermaster.)

And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words;

And say, O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that nothing should dwell in it, neither man nor animal, for it will be an eternal desolation.

And as soon as you have finished reading this book, you shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,

And say, Thus Babylon will sink and will not rise up because of the evil which I will bring upon it, and they will weary themselves. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.