The Linen Loincloth

13 Thus Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not place^[a] it in water.” ² So I bought the loincloth according to the word of Yahweh and I put it^[b] on my loins.

³ Now the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying,^{[c] 4} “Take the loincloth that you bought, that is on your loins, and stand up, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates just as Yahweh had commanded me.

⁶ And then,^[d] after a long time,^[e] then Yahweh said to me, “Stand up, go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything.

⁸ And then^[f] the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{[g] 9} “Thus says Yahweh: ‘So I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go^[h] in the stubbornness of their hearts,^[i] and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything. ¹¹ For as the loincloth clings to the loins of a person, so I caused to cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah,’ declares^[j] Yahweh, ‘to be for me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.’