Jeremiah 13

A Linen Belt

¹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” ²So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: ⁴“Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” ⁵So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

⁶Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! ¹¹For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

Wineskins

¹²“Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ ¹³then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. ¹⁴I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’ ”

Threat of Captivity

¹⁵Hear and pay attention,

do not be arrogant,

for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings the darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the darkening hills.

You hope for light,

but he will turn it to utter darkness

and change it to deep gloom.

¹⁷If you do not listen,

I will weep in secret

because of your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly,

overflowing with tears,

because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and to the queen mother,

“Come down from your thrones,

for your glorious crowns

will fall from your heads.”

¹⁹The cities in the Negev will be shut up,

and there will be no one to open them.

All Judah will be carried into exile,

carried completely away.

²⁰Look up and see

those who are coming from the north.

Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,

the sheep of which you boasted?

²¹What will you say when the Lord sets over you

those you cultivated as your special allies?

Will not pain grip you

like that of a woman in labor?

²²And if you ask yourself,

“Why has this happened to me?”—

it is because of your many sins

that your skirts have been torn off

and your body mistreated.

²³Can an Ethiopian change his skin

or a leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the desert wind.

²⁵This is your lot,

the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the Lord,

“because you have forgotten me

and trusted in false gods.

²⁶I will pull up your skirts over your face

that your shame may be seen—

²⁷your adulteries and lustful neighings,

your shameless prostitution!

I have seen your detestable acts

on the hills and in the fields.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

How long will you be unclean?”