A Linen Belt
1 This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a
linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it
touch water." 2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed,
and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second
time: 4 "Take the belt you bought and are wearing
around your waist, and go now to perath and hide it
there in a crevice in the rocks." 5 So I went and hid it
at Perath, as the LORD told me.
6 Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to
Perath and get the belt told you to hide there." 7 So I
went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the
place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and
completely useless.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 "This is
what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride
of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked
people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the
stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve
and worship them, will be like this belt--completely useless!
11 For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all
the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,' declares
the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and
honor. But they have not listened.'
Wineskins
12 "Say to them: 'This is what the LORD, the God of
Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.'
And if they say to you, 'Don't we know that every
wineskin should be filled with wine?' 13 then tell them,
'This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with
drunkenness all who live in this land, including the
kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the
prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 I will
smash them one against the other, parents and children
alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or
compassion to keep me from destroying them.' "
Threat of Captivity
15 Hear and pay attention,
do not be arrogant,
for the LORD has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God
before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
but he will turn it to utter darkness
and change it to deep gloom.
17 If you do not listen,
I will weep in secret
because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
overflowing with tears,
because the LORD's flock will be taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
"Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns
will fall from your heads."
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile,
carried completely away.
20 Look up and see
those who are coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the LORD sets over you
those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you
like that of a woman in labor?
22 And if you ask yourself,
"Why has this happened to me?"--
it is because of your many sins
that your skirts have been torn off
and your body mistreated.
23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 "I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have decreed for you,"
declares the LORD,
"because you have forgotten me
and trusted in false gods.
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face
that your shame may be seen--
27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts
on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
How long will you be unclean?"