The Ruined Waistband

13 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and ^(A)buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ² So I bought the waistband in accordance with the ^(B)word of the Lord and put it around my waist. ³ Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to ^[a]the ^(C)Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, ^(D)as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶ After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there 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 lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the ^(E)pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This wicked people, who ^(F)refuse to listen to My words, who ^(G)walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. ¹¹ For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah ^(H)cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for ^[b](I)renown, for ^(J)praise and for glory; but they ^(K)did not listen.’