¹¹ And coming to us, he ^(A)took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, ^(B)“Thus says the Holy Spirit, ^(C)‘This is how the Jews^[a] at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and ^(D)deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

³³ Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him ^(A)to be bound ^(B)with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.

The Ruined Loincloth

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and ^(A)put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” ² So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³ And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴ “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, ^(B)go to the Euphrates and hide it there in ^(C)a cleft of the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶ And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there ^(D)the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took ^(E)the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ^(F)spoiled; it was ^(G)good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “Thus says the Lord: ^(H)Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great ^(I)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, ^(J)who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ^(K)good for nothing. ¹¹ For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ^(L)that they might be for me a people, ^(M)a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

^27 (A)As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, ^(B)“The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

²³ except that ^(A)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^(B)imprisonment and ^(C)afflictions await me.

^12 (A)It was revealed to them that ^(B)they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you ^(C)by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, ^(D)things into which angels long to look.

³⁴ For ^(A)you had compassion on those in prison, and ^(B)you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had ^(C)a better possession and an abiding one.

A Rest for the People of God

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

^9 (A)for which I am suffering, ^(B)bound with chains as a criminal. But ^(C)the word of God is not bound!