Jeremiah 13

Revised Geneva Translation

13 Thus says the LORD to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen girdle, and put it upon your loins. And do not put it in water.”

² So I bought the girdle, according to the Commandment of the LORD, and put it upon my loins.

³ And the Word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

⁴ “Take the girdle that you have bought, which is upon your loins. And arise, go toward Perath, and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.”

⁵ So I went and hid it by Perath, as the LORD had Commanded me.

⁶ And after many days, the LORD said to me, “Arise, go toward Perath, and take the girdle from there, which I Commanded you to hide there.”

⁷ Then I went to Perath and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the girdle was ruined, profitable for nothing.

⁸ Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁹ “Thus says the LORD: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “This wicked people has refused to hear My Word, and walk after the stubbornness of their own heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them. Therefore they shall be as this girdle, which is profitable to nothing.

¹¹ “For as the girdle clings to the loins of a man, so have I tied to Myself the whole House of Israel, and the whole House of Judah,” says the LORD, “so that they might be My people, so that they might have a name and praise and glory. But they would not hear.

¹² “Therefore, you shall say this Word to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.”’ And they shall say to you, ‘Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?’

¹³ “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings that sit upon the throne of David, and the priests and the Prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.”’

¹⁴ “And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not spare. I will neither pity nor have compassion, but will destroy them.”

¹⁵ Hear and give ear! Do not be proud. For the LORD has spoken it.

¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, or if ever your feet stumble in the dark mountains while you look for light and He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it as darkness.

¹⁷ But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride. And my eye shall weep and drop down tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.

¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen, “Humble yourselves. Sit down. For the crown of your glory shall come down from your heads.”

¹⁹ The cities of the South shall be shut up, and no man shall open them. All Judah shall be carried away captive. It shall be wholly carried away captive.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the North. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

²¹ What will you say when He shall reckon with you? For you have taught them to be captains, as chief over you. Shall not sorrow take you, as a woman in labor?

²² And if you say in your heart, “Why do these things come upon me?” For the multitude of your iniquities are your skirts uncovered and your heels made bare.

²³ Can the black moor change his skin, or the leopard his spots? May you who are accustomed to doing evil also do good?

²⁴ “Therefore, I will scatter them as the stubble that is taken away with the south wind.

²⁵ “This is your portion, the part of your measures from Me,” says the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in lies.

²⁶ “Therefore, I have also uncovered your skirts upon your face, so that your shame may appear.

²⁷ “I have seen your adulteries and your neighings, the filthiness of your whoredom on the hills, in the fields, your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean as you once were?”