Jeremiah 13

1 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.

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 So, as the Lord said, I got a band for a price and put it round my body.

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

3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,

Then the Lord gave me another message:

4 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.

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 So I went and put it in a secret place by Parah, as the Lord had said to me.

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

6 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.

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

7 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.

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 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Then a message from the Lord came to me:

9 The Lord has said, In this way I will do damage to the pride of Judah and to the great pride 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 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.

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 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.

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 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?

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 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.

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 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.

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 Give ear and let your ears be open; be not lifted up: for these are the words of the Lord.

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

16 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.

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 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.

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 queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads.

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

19 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.

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 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?

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 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?

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 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.

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 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.

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 So I will send them in all directions, as dry grass is taken away by the wind of the waste land.

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

25 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.

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 So I will have your skirts uncovered before your face, in order that your shame may be seen.

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

27 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?

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?