Jeremiah 13

1. Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water.”

2. So I bought a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.

3. And the Word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

4. “Take the girdle that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise. Go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.”

5. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

6. And it came to pass at the end of many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

7. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And, behold, the girdle was spoiled; it was not good for anything.

8. Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

9. “Thus says the LORD, ‘In this way I will spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10. This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.

11. For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD; ‘so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.’

12. Therefore you will speak unto them this word, ‘Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, “Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.” ‘ And they shall say to you, ‘Do we not surely know that every wineskin is filled with wine?’

13. Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will fill all the people of this land, even the kings that sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

14. And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep them from their destruction.” ’ ”

15. Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for the LORD has spoken.

16. Give glory to the LORD your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, making it gross darkness.

17. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride. And my eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.

18. Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves, sit down; for your greatness shall come down, even the crown of your glory.”

19. The cities of the south have been shut up, and none shall open them; Judah has been exiled, all of it has been wholly exiled.

20. Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

21. What will you say when He shall set as head over you former friends whom you yourselves have trained against you? Shall not pangs of sorrow seize you, like a woman in travail?

22. And if you say in your heart, “Why do these things come upon me?” It is because of the greatness of your iniquity; your skirts are lifted up, and your heels suffer violence.

23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Then you also may do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.

24. “Therefore I will scatter them as chaff driven away by the wind of the wilderness.

25. This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you,” says the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.

26. Therefore I also have stripped off your skirts over your face, that your shame may appear.

27. I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the wickedness of your whoredoms, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean? When will it ever be?”