¹¹ But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation,

¹² He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).

¹³ For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body,^(A)

¹⁴ How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who ^[a]by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent ^[b]divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?

¹⁵ [Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance—since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the [old] first agreement.

¹⁶ For where there is a [last] will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established,

¹⁷ For a will and testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive.

¹⁸ So even the [old] first covenant (God’s will) was not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without the shedding of blood.

¹⁹ For when every command of the Law had been read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of slain calves and goats, together with water and scarlet wool and with a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself and all the people,

²⁰ Saying these words: This is the blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the testament, the covenant) which God commanded [me to deliver to] you.^(B)

²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and all the [sacred] vessels and appliances used in [divine] worship.

²² [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.

²³ By such means, therefore, it was necessary for the [earthly] copies of the heavenly things to be purified, but the actual heavenly things themselves [required far] better and nobler sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ (the Messiah) has not entered into a sanctuary made with [human] hands, only a copy and pattern and type of the true one, but [He has entered] into heaven itself, now to appear in the [very] presence of God on our behalf.

²⁵ Nor did He [enter into the heavenly sanctuary to] offer Himself regularly again and again, as the high priest enters the [Holy of] Holies every year with blood not his own.

²⁶ For then would He often have had to suffer [over and over again] since the foundation of the world. But as it now is, He has once for all at the consummation and close of the ages appeared to put away and abolish sin by His sacrifice [of Himself].

²⁷ And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,

²⁸ Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and ^[c]once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him.

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3 I am [Jeremiah] the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.

² He has led me and brought me into darkness and not light.

³ Surely He has turned away from me; His hand is against me all the day.

⁴ My flesh and my skin has He worn out and made old; He has shattered my bones.

⁵ He has built up [siege mounds] against me and surrounded me with bitterness, tribulation, and anguish.

⁶ He has caused me to dwell in dark places like those long dead.

⁷ He walled me in so that I cannot get out; He has weighted down my chain.

⁸ Even when I cry and shout for help, He shuts out my prayer.

⁹ He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait, and like a lion [hiding] in secret places.

¹¹ He has turned me off my ways and pulled me in pieces; He has made me desolate.

¹² He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

¹³ He has caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my heart [the seat of my affections and desires].

¹⁴ I have become a derision to all my people, and [the subject of] their singsong all the day.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink to excess and until drunken with wormwood [bitterness].

¹⁶ He has also broken my teeth with gravel (stones); He has covered me with ashes.

¹⁷ And You have bereaved my soul and cast it off far from peace; I have forgotten what good and happiness are.

¹⁸ And I say, Perished is my strength and my expectation from the Lord.

¹⁹ [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰ My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.

²¹ But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:

²² It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.^(A)

²³ They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.^(B)

²⁴ The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.^(C)

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word].

²⁶ It is good that one should hope in and wait quietly for the salvation (the safety and ease) of the Lord.

²⁷ It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke [of divine disciplinary dealings] in his youth.

²⁸ Let him sit alone uncomplaining and keeping silent [in hope], because [God] has laid [the yoke] upon him [for his benefit].^(D)

²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust [in abject recognition of his unworthiness]—there may yet be hope.^(E)

³⁰ Let him give his cheek to the One Who smites him [even through His human agents]; let him be filled [full] with [men’s] reproach [in meekness].

³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever!^(F)

³² But though He causes grief, yet will He be moved to compassion according to the multitude of His loving-kindness and tender mercy.

³³ For He does not willingly and from His heart afflict or grieve the children of men.^(G)

³⁴ To trample and crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,

³⁵ To turn aside and deprive a man of his rights before the face of the Most High or a superior [acting as God’s representative],

³⁶ To subvert a man in his cause—[of these things] the Lord does not approve.

³⁷ Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it?

³⁸ Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]?

³⁹ Why does a living man sigh [one who is still in this life’s school of discipline]? [And why does] a man complain for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰ Let us test and examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord!

⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands [and then with them mount up in prayer] to God in heaven:

⁴² We have transgressed and rebelled and You have not pardoned.

⁴³ You have covered Yourself with wrath and pursued and afflicted us; You have slain without pity.

⁴⁴ You have covered Yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵ You have made us offscouring and refuse among the nations.

⁴⁶ All our enemies have gaped at us and railed against us.

⁴⁷ Fear and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸ My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹ My eyes overflow continually and will not cease

⁵⁰ Until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.

⁵¹ My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the maidens [and the daughter-towns] of my city [Jerusalem].

⁵² I have been hunted down like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause.

⁵³ They [thought they had] destroyed my life in the dungeon (pit) and cast a stone [over it] above me.^(H)

⁵⁴ The waters ran down on my head; I said, I am gone.

⁵⁵ I called upon Your name, O Lord, out of the depths [of the mire] of the dungeon.^(I)

⁵⁶ You heard my voice [then]: [Oh] hide not Your ear [now] at my prayer for relief.

⁵⁷ You drew near on the day I called to You; You said, Fear not.^(J)

⁵⁸ O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul [You have managed my affairs and You have protected my person and my rights]; You have rescued and redeemed my life!

⁵⁹ O Lord, You have seen my wrong [done to me]; judge and maintain my cause.

⁶⁰ You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me.

⁶¹ You have heard their reproach and revilings, O Lord, and all their devices against me—

⁶² The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all day long.

⁶³ Look at their sitting down and their rising up [their movements, doings, and secret counsels]; I am their singsong [the subject of their derision and merriment].^(K)

⁶⁴ Render to them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵ You will give them hardness and blindness of heart; Your curse will be upon them.

⁶⁶ You will pursue and afflict them in anger and destroy them from under Your heavens, O Lord.

4 How the gold has become dim! How the most pure gold has changed! The hallowed stones [of the temple] are poured out at the head of every street.

² The noble and precious sons of Zion, [once] worth their weight in fine gold—how they are esteemed [merely] as earthen pots or pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!^(L)

³ Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like ostriches in the wilderness [that desert their young].

⁴ The tongue of the nursing babe cleaves to the roof of its mouth because of thirst; the young children beg for food, but no one gives it to them.

⁵ Those who feasted on dainties are perishing in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie cleaving to refuse and ash heaps.

⁶ For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands had come against her or been laid on her.^(M)

⁷ [In physical appearance] her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies or corals, their shapely figures [suggested a carefully cut] sapphire.

⁸ [Prolonged famine has made] them look blacker than soot and darkness; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it is withered and it has become [dry] like a stick.

⁹ Those who are slain with the sword are more fortunate than those who are the victims of hunger [slain by the famine]; for they [the hungry] pine and ebb away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰ The hands of [heretofore] compassionate women have boiled their own children; they were their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah].

¹¹ The Lord has fulfilled His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger and has kindled a fire in Zion that has consumed her foundations.

¹² The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the earth, that the oppressor and enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³ [But this happened] because of the sins of her [false] prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the just and righteous in the midst of her.

¹⁴ [The false prophets and priests] wandered [staggering] in the streets as if blind; they had so polluted themselves with blood it was not [lawful] for men to touch their garments.

¹⁵ [People] cried to them, Go away! Unclean! Depart! Depart! Touch not! When they fled away, then they wandered [as fugitives]; men said among the nations, They shall not stay here any longer.

¹⁶ The anger of the Lord has scattered [and divided them among the nations]; He will no longer look after them. They did not respect the persons of the priests; they did not favor the elders.

¹⁷ As for us, our eyes yet failed and wasted away in looking for our worthless help. In our watching [on our watchtower] we have watched and waited expectantly for a nation [Egypt or some other one to come to our rescue] that could not save us.^(N)

¹⁸ [The missiles of the enemy] dog our steps, so that we cannot go into our streets; our end is near, our days are fulfilled—yes, our end has come.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰ The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord [our king], was taken in their snares—he of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.

²¹ Rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. But the cup [of the wine of God’s wrath] also shall pass to you; you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.^(O)

²² The punishment of your iniquity will be accomplished and completed, O Daughter of Zion; [the Lord] will no more carry you away or keep you in exile. But He will inspect and punish your iniquity and guilt, O Daughter of Edom; He will uncover your sins.^(P)

5 O Lord, [earnestly] remember what has come upon us! Look down and see our reproach (our national disgrace)!

² Our inheritance has fallen over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

³ We have become orphans and fatherless; our mothers are like widows.

⁴ We have had to pay money to drink the water that belongs to us; our [own] wood is sold to us.

⁵ Our pursuers are upon our necks [like a yoke]; we are weary and are allowed no rest.

⁶ We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians [merely] to get food to satisfy [our hunger].

⁷ Our fathers sinned and are no more, and ^[a]we have borne their iniquities.^(Q)

⁸ Servants and slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hands.^(R)

⁹ We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness [the wild Arabs, who may attack if we venture into the fields to reap our harvests].

¹⁰ Our skin glows and is parched as from [the heat of] an oven because of the burning heat of [the fever of] famine.

¹¹ They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹² They hung princes by their hands; the persons of elders were not respected.

¹³ Young men carried millstones, and boys fell [staggering] under [burdens of] wood.

¹⁴ The elders have ceased from [congregating at] the city’s gate, the young men from their music.

¹⁵ Ceased is the joy of our hearts; our dancing has turned into mourning.

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head [our honor is brought to the dust]! Woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷ Because of this our hearts are faint and sick; because of these things our eyes are dim and see darkly.

¹⁸ As for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, the jackals prowl over it!

¹⁹ But You, O Lord, remain and reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to [all] generations.

²⁰ Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long?

²¹ Turn us to Yourself, O Lord, and we shall be turned and restored! Renew our days as of old!—

²² Or have You utterly rejected us? ^[b]Or are You exceedingly angry with us [still]?