Jeremiah 13

1 Thus said Jehovah unto me, 'Go, and thou hast got for thee a girdle of linen, and hast placed it on thy loins, and into water thou dost not cause it to enter:'

This is what the Lord told me to do: Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it on, but don't wash it.

2 and I get the girdle, according to the word of Jehovah, and I place [it] on my loins.

So I went and bought a loincloth as the Lord had instructed me, and I put it on.

3 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me a second time, saying,

Then the Lord gave me another message:

4 'Take the girdle that thou hast got, that [is] on thy loins, and rise, go to Phrat, and hide it there in a hole of the rock;

Take the loincloth that you bought and put on, and go immediately to the River Perath and hide it there in a hole among the rocks.

5 and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me.

So I went and hid it at the River Perath, as the Lord had told me.

6 And it cometh to pass, at the end of many days, that Jehovah saith unto me, 'Rise, go to Phrat, and take thence the girdle, that I commanded thee to hide there;'

A long time later the Lord told me, Go to Perath, and get the loincloth that I ordered you to hide there.

7 and I go to Phrat, and dig, and take the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and lo, the girdle hath been marred, it is not profitable for anything.

I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and removed it from where I'd hidden it. Obviously it was ruined—completely useless.

8 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Thus said Jehovah:

Then a message from the Lord came to me:

9 Thus do I mar the excellency of Judah, And the great excellency of Jerusalem.

This is what the Lord says: I will ruin the arrogance of Judah and the great arrogance of Jerusalem in exactly the same way.

10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, Who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, And go after other gods to serve them, And to bow themselves to them, Yea it is — as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

These evil people refuse to listen to what I tell them. They follow their own stubborn and evil thinking and run off to worship other gods—they will be like this loincloth, completely useless.

11 For, as the girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave unto Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah, To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not hearkened.

In the same way that a loincloth holds tightly to the body, so I made all the people of Israel and Judah hold tightly to me, declares the Lord. Then they could have been my people, representing me, giving me honor and praise. But they refused to listen.

12 And thou hast said unto them this word, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, 'Every bottle is full of wine,' And they have said unto thee: 'Do we not certainly know that every bottle is full of wine?'

So tell them this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wine jar shall be filled with wine. When they reply, “Don't we know that already? Of course every wine jar should be filled with wine!”

13 And thou hast said unto them, 'Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, And the kings who sit for David on his throne, And the priests, and the prophets, And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, [With] drunkenness,

then tell them that this is what the Lord says: I'm going to make everyone who lives in this land drunk—the kings sitting on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem.

14 And have dashed them one against another, And the fathers and the sons together, An affirmation of Jehovah, I do not pity, nor spare, nor have I mercy, So as not to destroy them.

I'm going to smash them against each other like wine jars, both parents and children, declares the Lord. I won't let any mercy or pity or compassion stop me from destroying them.

15 Hear, and give ear — be not haughty, For Jehovah hath spoken.

Listen and pay attention. Don't be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken.

16 Give ye to Jehovah your God honour, Before He doth cause darkness, And before your feet stumble on dark mountains, And ye have waited for light, And He hath made it for death-shade, And hath appointed [it] for thick darkness.

Honor the Lord your God before he brings the darkness, before you trip and fall in the twilight on the mountains. You long for light to come, but he send only gloom and complete darkness.

17 And if ye do not hear it, In secret places doth my soul weep, because of pride, Yea, it weepeth sore, And the tear cometh down mine eyes, For the flock of Jehovah hath been taken captive.

But if you refuse to listen, I will weep secretly inside because of your pride. My tears pouring down because the Lord's flock has been captured.

18 Say to the king and to the mistress: Make yourselves low — sit still, For come down have your principalities, The crown of your beauty.

Tell the king and the queen mother: Get down from your thrones, because your splendid crowns have fallen from your heads.

19 The cities of the south have been shut up, And there is none opening, Judah hath been removed — all of her, She hath been removed completely —

The towns in the Negev are surrounded; no one can get through to them. The whole of Judah has been taken away into exile, everyone has been exiled.

20 Lift up your eyes, and see those coming in from the north, Where [is] the drove given to thee, thy beautiful flock?

Look up and you'll see the invaders coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you to look after? Where are the sheep you were so proud of?

21 What dost thou say, when He looketh after thee? And thou — thou hast taught them [to be] over thee — leaders for head? Do not pangs seize thee as a travailing woman?

What are you going to say when he puts your enemies in charge of you, people you once counted as your friends? Won't you suffer pains like a woman in labor?

22 And when thou dost say in thy heart, 'Wherefore have these met me?' For the abundance of thine iniquity Have thy skirts been uncovered, Have thy heels suffered violence.

If you say to yourself, Why has this happened to me? it's because you have been so wicked. That's why your skirts were stripped off and you were raped.

23 Doth a Cushite change his skin? and a leopard his spots? Ye also are able to do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

Can Ethiopians change the color of their skin? Can a leopard change its spots? In the same way you can't change and do good because you're so used to doing evil.

24 And I scatter them as stubble, Passing away, by a wind of the wilderness.

I'm going to scatter you like chaff blown away by the desert wind.

25 This [is] thy lot, the portion of thy measures from Me — an affirmation of Jehovah, Because thou hast forgotten me, And dost trust in falsehood.

This is what's going to happen to you; this is what I have decided to do to you, declares the Lord, because you have forgotten me and believed in lies.

26 I also have made bare thy skirts before thy face, And thy shame hath been seen.

I will pull your skirts up over your face, so you will be seen naked and ashamed.

27 Thine adulteries, and thy neighings, The wickedness of thy whoredom, on heights in a field, I have seen thine abominations. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem, Thou art not cleansed, after when [is it] again?

I watched your acts of adultery and lust, how you prostituted yourselves shamelessly, worshiping idols on the hills and in the fields. Yes, I saw the disgusting things you did. Disaster is coming to you, Jerusalem! How long are you going to remain unclean?