Jeremiah 13

1This is what Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.”

2So I bought a loincloth, as Yahweh had told me, and put it around my waist.

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

4“Take the loincloth that you bought, which is around your waist, and get up and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a crevice in the rock.”

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

6After many days Yahweh said to me, “Get up, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth I commanded you to hide there.”

7So I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.

8Then the word of Yahweh came to me:

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

10This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, will be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

11For as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares Yahweh, to be my people, for my renown, my praise, and my glory. But they did not listen.

12Speak this word to them: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Every wine jar is to be filled with wine. And when they say to you, ‘Do we not know very well that every wine jar is to be filled with wine?’

13then say to them: This is what Yahweh says: I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

14I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons together, declares Yahweh. I will not show pity or spare them or have compassion; nothing will keep me from destroying them.”

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

16Give glory to Yahweh your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight. You will look for light, but he will turn it into deep darkness and make it thick gloom.

17But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run with tears, because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.

18Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves and sit down, for your glorious crowns have come down from your heads.”

19The cities of the Negev are shut up, and there is no one to open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, carried completely into exile.

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

21What will you say when he sets over you as head those you yourself trained to be your close allies? Will not pains seize you like a woman in labor?

22And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things happened to me?”—it is because of your many iniquities that your skirts have been stripped off and your heels have suffered violence.

23Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard its spots? Then you also can do good, you who are trained to do evil.

24I will scatter them like chaff blown away by the desert wind.

25This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares Yahweh, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

26So I myself will pull your skirts up over your face, and your shame will be seen—

27your adulteries and your lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills in the countryside. I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean—how much longer will it be?