20 Look up and see
    those who are coming from the north.(A)
Where is the flock(B) that was entrusted to you,
    the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the Lord sets over you
    those you cultivated as your special allies?(C)
Will not pain grip you
    like that of a woman in labor?(D)
22 And if you ask yourself,
    “Why has this happened to me?”(E)
it is because of your many sins(F)
    that your skirts have been torn off(G)
    and your body mistreated.(H)
23 Can an Ethiopian[a] change his skin
    or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
    who are accustomed to doing evil.(I)

24 “I will scatter you like chaff(J)
    driven by the desert wind.(K)
25 This is your lot,
    the portion(L) I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten(M) me
    and trusted in false gods.(N)
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face
    that your shame may be seen(O)
27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
    your shameless prostitution!(P)
I have seen your detestable acts
    on the hills and in the fields.(Q)
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
    How long will you be unclean?”(R)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)

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