The Earthly Holy Place

9 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and ^(A)an earthly place of holiness. ² For ^(B)a tent^[a] was prepared, the first section, in which were ^(C)the lampstand and ^(D)the table and ^(E)the bread of the Presence.^[b] It is called the Holy Place. ³ Behind ^(F)the second curtain was a second section^[c] called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ having the golden ^(G)altar of incense and ^(H)the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was ^(I)a golden urn holding the manna, and ^(J)Aaron's staff that budded, and ^(K)the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above it were ^(L)the cherubim of glory overshadowing ^(M)the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, ^(N)the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, ⁷ but into the second only ^(O)the high priest goes, and he but ^(P)once a year, and not without taking blood, ^(Q)which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that ^(R)the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing ⁹ (which is symbolic for the present age).^[d] According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered ^(S)that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with ^(T)food and drink and ^(U)various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest ^(V)of the good things that have come,^[e] then through ^(W)the greater and more perfect tent (^(X)not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he ^(Y)entered ^(Z)once for all into the holy places, not by means of ^(AA)the blood of goats and calves but ^(AB)by means of his own blood, ^(AC)thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if ^(AD)the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ^(AE)the ashes of a heifer, sanctify^[f] for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will ^(AF)the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ^(AG)offered himself without blemish to God, ^(AH)purify our^[g] conscience ^(AI)from dead works ^(AJ)to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is ^(AK)the mediator of a new covenant, so that ^(AL)those who are called may ^(AM)receive the promised eternal inheritance, ^(AN)since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[h] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For ^(AO)a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated ^(AP)without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took ^(AQ)the blood of calves and goats, ^(AR)with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, ^(AS)“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ^(AT)the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and ^(AU)without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(AV)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(AW)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(AX)on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as ^(AY)the high priest enters ^(AZ)the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, ^(BA)he has appeared ^(BB)once for all ^(BC)at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as ^(BD)it is appointed for man to die once, and ^(BE)after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once ^(BF)to bear the sins of ^(BG)many, will appear ^(BH)a second time, ^(BI)not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly ^(BJ)waiting for him.

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

⁵ As you do not know the way ^(F)the spirit comes to ^(G)the bones in the womb^[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening ^(H)withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

⁷ Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to ^(I)see the sun.

⁸ So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember ^(J)that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is ^(K)vanity.^[b]

^9 (L)Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. ^(M)Walk in the ways of your heart and ^(N)the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things ^(O)God will bring you into judgment.

¹⁰ Remove vexation from your heart, and ^(P)put away pain^[c] from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, ² Azariah the son of ^(A)Hoshaiah and ^(B)Johanan the son of Kareah and ^(C)all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, ^(D)‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ ³ but ^(E)Baruch the son of Neriah ^(F)has set you against us, ^(G)to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” ⁴ So ^(H)Johanan the son of Kareah and all ^(I)the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. ⁵ But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took ^(J)all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— ^6 (K)the men, the women, the children, ^(L)the princesses, and every person whom ^(M)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with ^(N)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. ⁷ And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at ^(O)Tahpanhes.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in ^(P)Tahpanhes: ⁹ “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in ^(Q)Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(R)my servant, ^(S)and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹ He shall come ^(T)and strike the land of Egypt, ^(U)giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. ^12 (V)I shall kindle a fire ^(W)in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them ^(X)and carry them away captive. ^(Y)And he shall clean the land of Egypt ^(Z)as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. ¹³ He shall break the ^(AA)obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, ^(AB)and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Judgment for Idolatry

44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at ^(AC)Migdol, at ^(AD)Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of ^(AE)Pathros, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day ^(AF)they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, ³ because of the evil that they committed, ^(AG)provoking me to anger, ^(AH)in that they went to make offerings ^(AI)and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. ^4 (AJ)Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ ^5 (AK)But they did not listen ^(AL)or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. ^6 (AM)Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ^(AN)and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. ⁷ And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil ^(AO)against yourselves, to cut off from you ^(AP)man and woman, ^(AQ)infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? ^8 (AR)Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, ^(AS)making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become ^(AT)a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? ⁹ Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, ^(AU)the evil of the kings of Judah, ^(AV)the evil of their^[a] wives, your own evil, ^(AW)and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰ They have not humbled themselves even to this day, ^(AX)nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AY)Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. ¹² I will take the remnant of Judah who have ^(AZ)set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. ^(BA)In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine ^(BB)they shall be consumed. ^(BC)From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, ^(BD)and they shall become an oath, a horror, ^(BE)a curse, and a taunt. ^13 (BF)I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, ^14 (BG)so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive ^(BH)or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, ^(BI)except some fugitives.”

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that ^(BJ)their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in ^(BK)Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: ¹⁶ “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(BL)we will not listen to you. ^17 (BM)But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to ^(BN)the queen of heaven ^(BO)and pour out drink offerings to her, ^(BP)as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. ¹⁸ But since we left off making offerings to ^(BQ)the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything ^(BR)and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” ¹⁹ And the women said,^[b] “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven ^(BS)and poured out drink offerings to her, was it ^(BT)without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, ^(BU)men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: ^21 (BV)“As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, ^(BW)did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind? ^22 (BX)The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and ^(BY)the abominations that you committed. ^(BZ)Therefore your land has become ^(CA)a desolation and a waste and a curse, ^(CB)without inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³ It is because you made offerings ^(CC)and because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey the voice of the Lord or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies ^(CD)that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴ Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, ^(CE)all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. ²⁵ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(CF)You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, ^(CG)to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! ²⁶ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ^(CH)all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ^(CI)Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, ^(CJ)that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, ^(CK)saying, ‘As the Lord God lives.’ ^27 (CL)Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. ^(CM)All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. ^28 (CN)And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, ^(CO)few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, ^(CP)shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. ²⁹ This shall be the sign to you, declares the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that ^(CQ)my words will surely stand against you for harm: ³⁰ Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give ^(CR)Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies ^(CS)and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave ^(CT)Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”