¹¹ He came over, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit declares, ‘So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.’”

³³ Then the commander arrested him and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done.

Jeremiah’s Linen Loincloth

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” ² So I bought the loincloth as the Lord directed me, and I put it on.

³ Then the Lord gave me another message: ⁴ “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River.^[a] Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me.

⁶ A long time afterward the Lord said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” ⁷ So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing.

⁸ Then I received this message from the Lord: ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! ¹¹ As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.

²⁷ As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. ²⁸ And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else—one who is better than you.

²³ except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

¹² They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

³⁴ You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

⁷ That is why the Holy Spirit says,

⁹ And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.

²⁰ I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.