Jeremiah 13

1 Thus said YHWH to me: “Go, and you have acquired a girdle of linen for yourself, and have placed it on your loins, and you do not cause it to enter into water.”

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

3 And there is a word of YHWH to me a second time, saying,

4 “Take the girdle that you have acquired, that [is] on your loins, and rise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock”;

5 and I go and hide it by the Euphrates, as YHWH commanded me.

6 And it comes to pass, at the end of many days, that YHWH says to me, “Rise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle there, that I commanded you to hide there”;

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

8 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying, “Thus said YHWH:

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

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, Indeed it is—as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

11 For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave to Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah,” A declaration of YHWH, “To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not listened.

12 And you have said this word to them, Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Every bottle is full of wine, And they have said to you: Do we not certainly know that every bottle is full of wine?

13 And you have said to them, Thus said YHWH: Behold, 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,

14 And have dashed them against one another, And the fathers and the sons together,” A declaration of YHWH, “I do not pity, nor spare, nor do I have mercy, So as not to destroy them.”

15 Hear, and give ear—do not be haughty, For YHWH has spoken.

16 Give glory to your God YHWH, Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble on dark mountains, And you have waited for light, And He has made it for death-shade, And has appointed [it] for thick darkness.

17 And if you do not hear it, My soul weeps in secret places, because of pride, Indeed, it weeps and wails, And the tear comes down my eyes, For the flock of YHWH has been taken captive.

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

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

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

21 What do you say when He looks after you? And you have taught them [to be] over you—leaders for head? Do pangs not seize you as a travailing woman?

22 And when you say in your heart, “Why have these met me?” For the abundance of your iniquity Have your skirts been uncovered, Have your heels suffered violence.

23 “Does a Cushite change his skin? And a leopard his spots? Can you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil?

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

25 This [is] your lot, the portion of your measures from Me,” A declaration of YHWH, “Because you have forgotten Me, And trust in falsehood.

26 I have also made your skirts bare before your face, And your shame has been seen.

27 Your adulteries, and your neighings, The wickedness of your whoredom, on heights in a field, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem, You are not [yet] made clean—after when [will you be] again?”