Jeremiah 13
1 [One day] Yahweh said to me, “Go and buy a linen waistcloth. Put it on, but do not wash it.”
This is what the Lord said to me: Go and get yourself a linen band and put it round you and do not put it in water.
2 So I bought a [very nice] waistcloth, which is what Yahweh told me to do, and I put it on.
So, as the Lord said, I got a band for a price and put it round my body.
3 Then [later] Yahweh gave me another message.
And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,
4 He said, “Go to the small Perath Stream [near Jerusalem] and hide your waistcloth in a crevice/hole in the rocks.”
Take the band which you got for a price, which is round your body, and go to Parah and put it in a secret place there in a hole of the rock.
5 So I went to the stream and did what Yahweh told me to do.
So I went and put it in a secret place by Parah, as the Lord had said to me.
6 A long time later, Yahweh said to me, “Go [back] to that stream and get the waistcloth that I told you to hide there.”
Then after a long time, the Lord said to me, Up! go to Parah and get the band which I gave you orders to put there.
7 So I went to the Perath Stream and dug out the waistcloth from the crevice/hole in which I had hidden it. But it was ruined, and useless.
So I went to Parah and, uncovering the hole, took the band from the place where I had put it away: and the band was damaged and of no use for anything.
8 Then Yahweh gave me this message:
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 “[What happened to your waistcloth] shows that I will destroy the things that [the people of] Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah are very proud of.
The Lord has said, In this way I will do damage to the pride of Judah and to the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 Those wicked people refuse to pay attention to what I say. They stubbornly do just what they desire to do; they worship other gods. Therefore, they will become completely useless, like your waistcloth.
These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything.
11 Just like a waistcloth clings closely/tightly to a man’s waist, I wanted the people [MTY] of Israel and Judah to cling closely to me. I wanted them to be my people, people who would praise me and honor me. But they would not pay attention [to me]. “
For as a band goes tightly round a man's body, so I made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah tightly united to me; so that they might be a people for me and a name and a praise and a glory: but they would not give ear.
12 “[So], tell this to them: ‘Yahweh, the God whom you Israeli [people worship], says that every leather wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And [when you tell that to them], they will reply, ‘(Of course/Certainly) we know [RHQ] that all wineskins should be filled with wine!’
So you are to say this word to them: This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Every skin bottle will be full of wine; and they will say to you, Is it not quite clear to us that every skin bottle will be full of wine?
13 And then you must tell them, ‘No, that is not what Yahweh means. What he said means that he will cause this land to be filled with people who are drunk. [That will include all of you]—the king who sits on the throne that King David previously sat on, the priests and the prophets, and even the common people of Jerusalem.’
Then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, I will make all the people of this land, even the kings seated on David's seat, and the priests and the prophets and all the people of Jerusalem, overcome with strong drink.
14 [He is saying], ‘I will cause you to bash each other. [Even] parents will bash their children. I will not pity you or act mercifully toward you at all; pitying you will not prevent me from getting rid of you.’”
I will have them smashed against one another, fathers and sons together, says the Lord: I will have no pity or mercy, I will have no feeling for them to keep me from giving them to destruction.
15 [You people of Judah], pay very careful attention [DOU]. Do not be proud, because Yahweh has spoken to you.
Give ear and let your ears be open; be not lifted up: for these are the words of the Lord.
16 [It is as though] he is ready to bring darkness on you and to cause you to stumble and fall [as you walk] on the hills when it is becoming dark. [So] praise/honor Yahweh your God before that happens. If you do not do that, you will look for light, but all you will see is darkness and gloom.
Give glory to the Lord your God, before he makes it dark, and before your feet are slipping on the dark mountains, and, while you are looking for a light, he makes it into deep dark, into black night.
17 And if you [still] refuse to heed what he says, [what will happen to you because of] your being proud will cause me to cry when I am alone. My eyes will be filled with tears because [you], Yahweh’s people, [whom he takes care of like a shepherd takes care of] [MET] his flock, will [all] be [captured by your enemies and] taken to other countries.
But if you do not give ear to it, my soul will be weeping in secret for your pride; my eye will be weeping bitterly, streaming with water, because the Lord's flock has been taken away as prisoners.
18 [You people of Judah], say to the king and to his mother, “Come down from sitting on your thrones and [humbly] sit in the dust, because [your enemies] will soon snatch from your heads your glorious crowns.”
Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads.
19 The towns in the southern part of Judah will be surrounded by your enemies, and no one will be able to get through their lines [to rescue the people in those towns]. [You people of] Judah will be captured and taken away; you will all be (exiled/taken [to foreign countries)].
The towns of the south are shut up, and there is no one to make them open: Judah is taken away as prisoners; all Judah is taken away as prisoners.
20 [You leaders of Jerusalem], open your eyes and look: [The enemy armies are ready to] march down from the north. [When that happens], what will happen to [RHQ] the [people of Judah who are like] a beautiful flock of sheep, people that he gave to you to take care of?
Let your eyes be lifted up (O Jerusalem), and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock which was given to you, your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say [RHQ] when Yahweh appoints people from other countries to rule over you, people who you [mistakenly] thought were your friends? You will [RHQ] suffer very much pain, like a woman who is about to give birth to a baby.
What will you say when he puts over you those whom you yourself have made your friends? will not pains take you like a woman in childbirth?
22 You will ask yourselves, “Why is this happening to us?” [I will reply that] it is because of your many sins. That is why [soldiers of the invading armies] will lift up the skirts [of your women] and rape them.
And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come on me? because of the number of your sins, your skirts have been uncovered and violent punishment overtakes you.
23 A man from Ethiopia certainly cannot [RHQ] change the color of his [black] skin, and a leopard certainly cannot [RHQ] change its spots. Similarly, you cannot start doing what is good, because you have always done what is evil.
Is it possible for the skin of the Ethiopian to be changed, or the markings on the leopard? Then it might be possible for you to do good, who have been trained to do evil.
24 [Yahweh says], “I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the wind from the desert.
So I will send them in all directions, as dry grass is taken away by the wind of the waste land.
25 That is what is certainly going to happen to you; the things that I have determined will happen to you, because you have forgotten me, and you are trusting in false [gods].
This is your fate, the part measured out to you by me, says the Lord, because you have put me out of your memory and put your faith in what is false.
26 [It is as though] I myself will pull your skirts up over your faces and cause you to be very ashamed because everyone will be able to see your sex organs.
So I will have your skirts uncovered before your face, in order that your shame may be seen.
27 I have seen that you [act like men who are eager to commit adultery]; you are like male horses that whinny when they desire [to have sex with] a female horse. I have seen that you worship disgusting idols in the fields and on the hills. [You people of] Jerusalem, terrible things will happen to you! How long will it be [RHQ] until you are acceptable to me [again]?”
I have seen your disgusting acts, even your false behaviour and your cries of desire and your loose ways on the hills in the field. Unhappy are you, O Jerusalem, you have no desire to be made clean; how long will you be in turning back to me?
