Jeremiah 13
EasyEnglish Bible
A linen belt
13 The Lord said to me, ‘Go and buy a linen belt.[a] Tie it around your body. But do not put it into water.’ 2 So I bought a belt, as the Lord had told me to do. I tied it around me.
3 The Lord spoke to me again. 4 He said, ‘Take the belt that you bought and you are now wearing. Take it now to Perath. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.’ 5 So I went to Perath. I hid it there, as the Lord had commanded me to do.[b]
6 Many days after that, the Lord said to me, ‘Now go to Perath again. Get the belt that I told you to hide there.’ 7 So I went back to Perath. I dug out the belt from the place where I had hidden it. But it had become spoiled. I could not use it any more.
8 Then the Lord said to me, 9 ‘I, the Lord, tell you this: See what happened to your belt. Now I will destroy everything that the people of Judah and Jerusalem are proud of. 10 Those wicked people refuse to listen to my words. They do whatever they want to do. They are too proud to change. They serve other gods and they worship them. Now they will become as useless as this linen belt. 11 I tell you this: My people should have been like a belt for me. I held all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah very near to me. I chose them to be my special people. They should have respected me and given me honour so that people would praise me. But they refused to obey me.
12 You must tell them, “The Lord, Israel's God, says this: People make wine bottles so that they can fill them with wine.” They may answer, “We know that is why people make wine bottles. Everyone knows that!” 13 Then tell them, “Now I will fill all the people who live in this land. I will fill the kings from David's family, the prophets, the priests and the people who live in Jerusalem. Yes, I will fill them all with so much wine that they become drunk! 14 I will knock them against each other, so that they break like bottles. I will punish everyone, parents and their children. I will not be sorry for them and I will not be kind to them. I will destroy them, and nothing can stop me.” That is what the Lord says.’
Jeremiah warns the people of Judah
15 ‘Listen carefully to me.
Do not be too proud to listen!
The Lord has spoken to you.
16 Give honour to the Lord your God,
before it is too late.
Do it before he makes everywhere become dark.
Then you will fall down,
like someone who walks on the mountains at night.
You may hope for light to come,
but God will make it completely dark.[c]
17 If you refuse to listen to God's message,
I will hide myself and I will weep.
Because you are so proud,
tears will pour from my eyes.
I will cry because the Lord has sent his own people away
as prisoners to a foreign land.
18 Tell the king and his mother,
“Come down from your thrones.
Your beautiful crowns will soon fall from your heads.”[d]
19 The cities in the south of Judah will keep their gates shut.
Nobody will go in or out of the cities.
Enemies will take the people of Judah away as prisoners.
They will take them all into exile.
20 Leaders of Jerusalem, look up!
See the enemy that is coming from the north.
What has happened to your people?
You were proud of them
and you should have taken care of them.
You are like shepherds who have lost their sheep.
21 The Lord will choose other people to rule over you.
They are people that you wanted to be your friends,
but now they will have power over you.
So what will you say about that?
You will be afraid and in much pain,
like a woman who is giving birth to a baby.
22 You may ask,
“Why are these things happening to me?”
It is because of your many terrible sins.
Like an adulteress, they have torn off your dress
to make you ashamed.
23 You have done evil things for a long time.
So you cannot now start to do good things.
Can anyone change the colour of his skin?
Can a leopard remove the marks on its body?
No! And you cannot change yourselves either.’
24 The Lord says,
‘I will blow you away,
as a hot desert wind blows away straw.
25 That is how I have decided to punish you.
It is what you deserve
because you have forgotten me.
You have trusted in false gods.
26 So I will cause you to be very ashamed,
like a woman whose dress they have removed.
27 People of Jerusalem,
you are in terrible trouble!
I have seen the disgusting things that you do.
You are like a woman who has not been faithful to her husband.
Like a prostitute, you look for other gods to serve.
You cannot control yourselves,
as you do disgusting things on the hills and in the fields.
Will you never be clean and pure again?’[e]
Footnotes
- 13:1 The belt was a piece of cloth that would cover the lower part of a man's body and the top of his legs.
- 13:5 ‘Perath’ may have been a place near Jeremiah's home town of Anathoth. Or it may have been another name for the Euphrates River, which was more than 1,000 kilometres away.
- 13:16 They will hope for God to come and rescue them, but he will send them away into exile.
- 13:18 This means that they will not continue to rule the people.
- 13:27 Jeremiah is telling the people in Jerusalem that God will use their enemies to punish them. God sees all the wrong things that they are doing. He knows that they do not respect him.
耶利米書 13
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
腰帶的比喻
13 耶和華對我說：「你去買一條麻布腰帶束在腰間，不可讓它沾水。」 2 我照耶和華的話買了腰帶，束在腰間。 3 耶和華又對我說： 4 「拿著你買來的腰帶去幼發拉底河邊，把它藏在那裡的石縫中。」 5 於是，我照耶和華的吩咐把腰帶藏在那裡。 6 多日後，耶和華對我說：「去幼發拉底河邊取回我吩咐你藏的腰帶。」 7 我就去幼發拉底河邊把所藏的腰帶挖出來，但腰帶已經腐爛，不能用了。
8 耶和華對我說： 9 「這是耶和華說的，『我也要這樣消滅猶大的驕傲和耶路撒冷的狂妄。 10 這邪惡的百姓拒絕聽我的話，一意孤行，跟隨、供奉、祭拜別的神明，他們將像這腰帶一樣毫無用處。 11 我本想使以色列人和猶大人緊靠著我，就像腰帶緊貼在人的腰間，讓他們做我的子民，使我聲名遠揚、得到讚美和尊崇，他們卻不肯聽從。這是耶和華說的。』
12 「因此，你告訴他們，以色列的上帝耶和華說，『每個瓶子都要盛滿酒。』若他們說，『難道我們不知道每個瓶子都要盛滿酒嗎？』 13 你就告訴他們，『耶和華說，我要使坐在大衛寶座上的君王以及祭司、先知、耶路撒冷人和這片土地上所有的居民都酩酊大醉； 14 我要使他們彼此撞得粉碎，就算父子也要彼此相撞；我要毀滅他們，決不心慈手軟。』」
15 耶和華說話了，你們要留心聽，
不可傲慢。
16 趁著你們的上帝耶和華還未使黑暗來臨，
你們還未在漆黑的山上絆倒，
要把榮耀歸給祂。
否則，祂必使你們期望的光明變為幽冥和黑暗。
17 如果你們因為驕傲而不肯聽，
我會暗自哭泣、淚流滿面，
因為耶和華的子民將要被擄。
18 耶和華讓我對君王和太后說：
「從寶座上下來吧，
因為你們頭上華美的王冠將要掉落。」
19 南部的城邑將被圍困，
無人能解圍，
猶大人都要被擄，無一倖免。
20 耶路撒冷啊，
舉目看看那些從北方來的敵人吧，
從前賜給你的佳美羊群——你的百姓如今在哪裡呢？
21 耶和華讓你結交的盟友來統治你，
你還有什麼話可說？
難怪你痛苦不堪，
就像分娩的婦人。
22 也許你在想：「為什麼這些事發生在我身上？」
你的裙子被撕破，你遭受蹂躪，
是因為你罪大惡極。
23 古實人能改變他們的膚色嗎？
豹子能脫去牠們的斑點嗎？
你這作惡成性的人怎能行善呢？
24 因此，耶和華說：
「我要把你分散到四方，
像曠野的風吹散碎稭一樣。
25 這是你應得的報應，
是我量給你的，
因為你把我拋諸腦後，
信靠假神。
這是耶和華說的。
26 因此，我要把你的裙子掀到你的臉上，
使人見到你的羞恥。
27 你在山上和田野間拜偶像，
像無恥的婦人與情郎苟合，
發出淫語浪聲。
這些可憎之事，我都看見了。
耶路撒冷啊，你有禍了！
你什麼時候才肯自潔呢？」
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