The Linen Loincloth

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water.” ² So I bought a waistcloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. ³ And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴ “Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphra′tes, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” ⁵ So I went, and hid it by the Euphra′tes, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶ And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphra′tes, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphra′tes, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

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