Jeremiah 13

1Thus Yahweh said to me: Go buy a linen belt for yourself, put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.

2So I bought the belt following Yahweh's word and put it on my waist.

3Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying,

4Take the belt you bought, which is on your waist, arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.

5I went and hid it at the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.

6After many days Yahweh said to me, "Get up, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there that I commanded you to hide there."

7So I went to the Euphrates, dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it there; and behold, the belt was ruined, useless for anything.

8Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

9This is what Yahweh says: In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10This wicked people who refuse to heed my words, who follow their heart's obstinacy and go after other gods to serve them and bow down to them, will become like this belt, which profits nothing.

11For as a belt clings to a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me, declares Yahweh, to become my people, renown, praise, and glory, but they would not listen.

12Say to them: This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, declares—every bottle will be filled with wine—and they will reply to you, Do we not know that every bottle will be filled with wine?

13You shall say to them, Thus says Yahweh: See, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

14I will shatter them, man against his brother—the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy to keep from destroying them.

15Listen and pay attention; do not be haughty, for Yahweh has spoken.

16Give glory to Yahweh your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on twilight mountains, while you hope for light, and he sets it as shadow of death, appointing thick darkness.

17But if you do not hear it, my soul will weep in secret because of pride, and my eye will weep bitterly and stream down with tears, because Yahweh's flock has been taken captive.

18Say to the king and the queen mother, Humble yourselves, sit down, for your headdresses have come down, the crown of your glory.

19The cities of the Negev are shut, and no one opens them; Judah is taken into exile—all of it, completely taken into exile.

20Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north: where is the flock given to you, your glorious flock?

21What will you say when he punishes you, you yourself having taught them—your allies—as head over you? Shall not birth pangs seize you like a woman in labor?

22And if you say in your heart, "Why have these come upon me?", your skirts are exposed and your heels violated because of the abundance of your iniquity.

23Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? Even you, can you do good, accustomed as you are to evil?

24I will scatter them like stubble passing before the wilderness wind.

25This is your lot, the portion of your measures from me, says Yahweh, because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.

26I too will bare your skirts upon your face, and your shame will appear.

27I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighings, the shamelessness of your prostitution on the hills in the open field—your detestable deeds. Woe to you, Jerusalem! Will you not be purified? How long yet?