Jeremiah 13
Modern English Version
A Linen Sash
13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it upon your loins, and do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought a waistband according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.
3 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the waistband that you have, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the waistband from there, which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But the waistband was destroyed. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Thus says the Lord: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the imagination of their hearts, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall be even as this waistband which is good for nothing. 11 For as the waistband cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Me, says the Lord, so that they might be to Me a people for renown, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not listen.
The Metaphor of Wine Bottles
12 Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And when they say to you, “Do we not certainly know that every bottle should be filled with wine?” 13 then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings that sit on the throne of David, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will dash them against one another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not show pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.
Exile Threatened
15 Hear and give heed;
do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God,
before He causes darkness
and before your feet stumble
on the dark mountains,
and while you look for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death
and makes it gross darkness.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
my soul will weep in secret places
for your pride;
and my eyes will weep sorely
and run down with tears,
because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother:
“Humble yourselves, sit down,
for your beautiful crown
shall come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negev will be shut up,
and no one will open them;
all Judah will be carried away into captivity;
it will be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes and see
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 appoints over you
those you yourself had taught to be companions to you?
Shall not sorrows take hold of you,
as a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come upon me?”
for the greatness of your iniquity
your skirts have been removed
and your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good,
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble
that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot,
the portion of your measures from Me,
says the Lord,
because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I Myself have uncovered your skirts over your face
so that your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
the lewdness of your harlotry,
and your abominations
on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?
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.
Jeremiah 13
Amplified Bible
The Ruined Waistband
13 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it on your [a]loins, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought the waistband according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins. 3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, 4 “Get up and take the waistband that you have bought, which is [wrapped] around your loins, and go to the [river] Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me. 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Get up, go to the Euphrates and get the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistband was decayed and ruined; it was completely worthless.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord, ‘In this same way I shall destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked and malevolent people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubborn way of their heart and have followed other gods [which are nothing—just man-made carvings] to serve them and to worship them, let them be just like this waistband which is completely worthless. 11 For as the waistband clings to the body of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they did not listen and obey.’
Captivity Threatened
12 “Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar should be filled with wine.”’ The people will say to you, ‘Do we not already know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13 Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to fill with drunkenness all the people of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all the people of Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them one against another, both the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I shall destroy them [nothing will restrain Me]; I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion.”’”
15
Listen and pay close attention, do not be haughty and overconfident,
For the Lord has spoken [says Jeremiah].
16
Give glory to the Lord your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dark and shadowy mountains,
And while you are longing for light
He turns it into the shadow of death,
And makes it into thick darkness.
17
But if you will not listen and obey,
My soul will weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And flow with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18
Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves and take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful crown [the crown of your glory]
Has come down from your head.”
19
The cities of the South (the Negev) have been closed up,
And there is no one to open them;
All Judah has been carried into exile,
Completely carried away into exile.
20
“Lift up your eyes and see
Those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you [to shepherd],
Your beautiful flock?
21
“What will you say [O Jerusalem] when the Lord appoints [foreign nations to rule] over you—
Those former friends and allies whom you have encouraged [to be your companions]—
Will not pain seize you
Like [that of] a woman in childbirth?
22
“And if you [wonder and] say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
It is because of the greatness and nature of your sin
That your skirts have been [b]pulled away [subjecting you to public disgrace]
And [like a barefoot slave] your heels have been wounded.
23
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good
Who are accustomed to evil and even trained to do it.
24
“Therefore I will scatter you like drifting straw
[Driven away] by the desert wind.
25
“This is your destiny, the portion [of judgment] measured to you
From Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in [pagan] lies [the counterfeit gods, and the pretense of alliance].”
26
“So I Myself will throw your skirts up over your face,
That your shame may be exposed [publicly].
27
“I have seen your vile and detestable acts,
Even your adulteries and your lustful neighings [after idols],
And the lewdness of your prostitution
On the hills in the fields.
Woe (judgment is coming) to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean [by ignoring My precepts]?”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 13:1 The midsection of the body between the lower ribs and the hips.
- Jeremiah 13:22 Using the expression for the violation of a woman, the writer describes how the Babylonians would deal with Judah.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
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