Jeremiah 13

1 The Lord seith these thingis to me, Go, and take in possessioun to thee a lynnun breigirdil; and thou schalt putte it on thi leendis, and thou schalt not bere it in to watir.

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 Y took in possessioun a breigirdil, bi the word of the Lord; and Y puttide aboute my leendis.

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 was maad to me in the secounde tyme,

Then the Lord gave me another message:

4 and seide, Take the brigirdil, which thou haddist in possessioun, which is aboute thi leendis; and rise thou, and go to Eufrates, and hide thou it there, in the hoole of a stoon.

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 Y yede, and hidde it in Eufrates, as the Lord comaundide to me.

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

6 And it was don aftir ful many daies, the Lord seide to me, Rise thou, and go to Eufrates, and take fro thennus the brigirdil, whiche Y comaundide to thee, that thou schuldist hide it 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 Y yede to Eufrates, and diggide out, and Y took the breigirdil fro the place, where Y hadde hidde it; and lo! the breigirdil was rotun, so that it was not able to ony vss.

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 the word of the Lord was maad to me,

Then a message from the Lord came to me:

9 and seide, The Lord seith these thingis, So Y schal make rotun the pride of Juda, and the myche 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 and this worste puple, that nylen here my wordis, and goen in the schrewidnesse of her herte; and thei yeden aftir alien goddis, to serue hem, and to worschipe hem; and thei schulen be as this breigirdil, which is not able to ony vss.

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 breigirdil cleueth to the leendis of a man, so Y ioynede faste to me al the hous of Israel, and al the hous of Juda, seith the Lord, that thei schulden be to me in to a puple, and in to name, and in to heriyng, and in to glorie; and thei herden not.

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 Therfor thou schalt seie to hem this word, The Lord God of Israel seith these thingis, Ech potel schal be fillid of wyn. And thei schulen seie to thee, Whether we witen not, that ech potel schal be fillid of wyn?

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 schalt seie to hem, The Lord seith these thingis, Lo! Y shal fille with drunkenesse alle the dwelleris of this lond, and the kyngis of the generacioun of Dauith, that sitten on his trone, and the prestis, and profetis, and alle the dwelleris of Jerusalem.

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 Y schal scatere hem, a man fro his brother, and the fadris and sones togidere, seith the Lord; Y schal not spare, and Y schal not graunte, nether Y schal do mercy, that I leese not hem.

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 Here ye, and perseyue with eeris; nyle ye be reisid, for the Lord spak.

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

16 Yyue ye glorie to youre Lord God, bifore that it wexe derk, and bifor that youre feet hirte at derk hillis; ye schulen abide liyt, and he schal sette it in to the schadewe of deeth, and in to derknesse.

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 That if ye heren not this, my soule schal wepe in hid place for the face of pride; it wepynge schal wepe, and myn iye shal caste out a teer, for the floc of the Lord is takun.

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 Seye thou to the kyng, and to the ladi, Be ye mekid, sitte ye, for the coroun of youre glorie schal go doun fro youre heed.

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 ben closid, and noon is that openith; al Juda is translatid bi perfit passyng ouere, ether goynge out of her lond.

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 Reise ye youre iyen, and se ye, what men comen fro the north; where is the floc which is youun to thee, thi noble scheep?

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 schalt thou seie, whanne he schal visite thee? for thou hast tauyt hem ayens thee, and thou hast tauyt ayens thin heed. Whether sorewis han not take thee, as a womman trauelynge of child?

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 That if thou seist in thin herte, Whi camen these thingis to me? for the multitude of thi wickidnesse thi schamefulere thingis ben schewid, thi feet ben defoulid.

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 If a man of Ethiopie mai chaunge his skyn, ether a pard mai chaunge hise dyuersitees, and ye moun do wel, whanne ye han lerned yuel.

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 Y schal sowe hem abrood, as stobil which is rauyschid of the wynd in desert.

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

25 This is thi lot, and the part of thi mesure of me, seith the Lord; for thou foryetidist me, and tristidist in a leesyng.

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 Wherfor and Y made nakid thin hipis ayens thi face, and thi schenschipe apperide,

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

27 thin auowtries, and thin neyyng, and the felonye of thi fornycacioun on litle hillis in the feeld; Y siy thin abhomynaciouns. Jerusalem, wo to thee, thou schalt not be clensid after me til yit.

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?