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.

¹⁹ Then the people asked, “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”

²⁰ So I said to them, “A message came to me from the Lord, ²¹ and I was told to give this message to the people of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will defile my Temple, the source of your security and pride, the place your heart delights in. Your sons and daughters whom you left behind in Judah will be slaughtered by the sword. ²² Then you will do as Ezekiel has done. You will not mourn in public or console yourselves by eating the food brought by friends. ²³ Your heads will remain covered, and your sandals will not be taken off. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins. You will groan among yourselves for all the evil you have done. ²⁴ Ezekiel is an example for you; you will do just as he has done. And when that time comes, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

²⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold—their joy and glory, their heart’s desire, their dearest treasure—I will also take away their sons and daughters.

¹⁰ “As these men watch you, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought. ¹¹ Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the bodies here in Topheth, the garbage dump, until there is no more room for them.

¹⁵ Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. ¹⁶ Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷ Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.”

¹⁸ Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. ¹⁹ But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”

¹¹ One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans to death!”

²⁹ One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, ³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you!