Jeremiah 13:1-11

Common English Bible

Jeremiah’s symbolic acts

13 The Lord proclaimed to me: Go and buy a linen undergarment. Wear it for a while without washing it. ² So I bought a linen undergarment, as the Lord told me, and I put it on. ³ The Lord spoke to me again: ⁴ Take the undergarment that you are wearing and go at once to the Euphrates and put it under a rock. ⁵ So I went and buried it at the Euphrates,^[a] as the Lord instructed. ⁶ After a long time, the Lord said to me: Return to the Euphrates and dig up the undergarment that I commanded you to bury there. ⁷ So I went to the Euphrates and I dug up the linen undergarment from the place I had buried it. But it was ruined and good for nothing.

⁸ Then the Lord’s word came to me: ⁹ The Lord proclaims: In the same way I will ruin the brazen pride of Judah and Jerusalem! ¹⁰ Instead of listening to me, this wicked people follow their own willful hearts and pursue other gods, worshipping and serving them. They will become like this linen garment—good for nothing! ¹¹ Just as a linen undergarment clings to the body, so I created the people of Israel and Judah to cling to me, declares the Lord, to be my people for my honor, praise, and grandeur. But they wouldn’t obey.