The Linen Loincloth

13 Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it on your loins, but do not dip it in water.”^{(A) 2} So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.^{(B) 3} And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Euphrates,^[a] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”^{(C) 5} So I went and hid it by the Euphrates,^[b] as the Lord commanded me.^{(D) 6} And after many days the Lord said to me, “Go now to the Euphrates,^[c] and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates^[d] and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ Thus says the Lord: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.^{(E) 10} This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.^{(F) 11} For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.^(G)

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ”^{(A) 8} Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver.^{(B) 10} I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales.^{(C) 11} Then I took the sealed deed of purchase containing the terms and conditions and the open copy,^{(D) 12} and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin^[a] Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.^{(E) 13} In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”^(F)

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ “Ah Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.^{(G) 18} You show steadfast love to the thousandth generation^[b] but repay the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts,^{(H) 19} great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of mortals, rewarding all according to their ways and according to the fruit of their doings.^{(I) 20} You showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day in Israel and among all humankind and have made yourself a name that continues to this very day.^{(J) 21} You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror,^{(K) 22} and you gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey,^{(L) 23} and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or follow your laws; of all you commanded them to do, they did nothing. Therefore you have made all these disasters come upon them.^{(M) 24} See, the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city, faced with sword, famine, and pestilence, has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has happened, as you yourself can see.^{(N) 25} Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for silver and get witnesses,’ though the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?^{(O) 28} Therefore, thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall take it.^{(P) 29} The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come, set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and libations have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.^{(Q) 30} For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord.^{(R) 31} This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built until this day, so that I will remove it from my sight^{(S) 32} because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^(T)