Jeremías 13

The ruined loincloth

¹The LORD said this to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I bought the loincloth as the LORD had told me and put it on around my waist.

³The word of the LORD came to me a second time: ⁴“Take the loincloth you bought, the one you are wearing, and set out for the Euphrates. Hide it there in a crack in the rock.”^{a 5}So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. ⁶After many days the LORD said to me, “Set out for the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And there it was, ruined, of no use for anything.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁹“The LORD says this: This is how I will ruin Judah’s pride, the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this loincloth, of no use for anything. ¹¹For as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I made all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, to be my people and to bring me renown, praise and honor. But they would not listen. ¹²So say this word to them: ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: Every jar will be filled with wine.’ And they will answer you, ‘Do we not know very well that every jar will be filled with wine?’ ¹³Then say to them, ‘The LORD says this: I am going to fill everyone who lives in this land with drunkenness: the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, the prophets and all who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁴I will smash them against one another, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will not pity them or spare them or show them compassion; nothing will keep me from destroying them.’”

Do not be proud

¹⁵Listen and pay attention; do not be proud, \q for the LORD has spoken. ¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before he makes it dark, \q before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. \q You will look for light, but he will turn it into deep darkness \q and make it black gloom. ¹⁷But if you will not listen, \q I will weep in hiding over your pride. \q My eyes will weep bitterly and overflow with tears, \q because the flock of the LORD has been carried off into captivity.

To the king and the queen mother

¹⁸Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Step down and sit in a lowly place, \q for your splendid crowns have fallen from your heads.”^{b 19}The towns of the Negev are shut tight, with no one to open them. \q All Judah has been taken into exile, carried away completely.

²⁰Look up and see \q the ones coming from the north! \q Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, \q your fine flock of sheep? ²¹What will you say when he sets over you as rulers \q the very ones you trained to be your close allies? \q Will not pains grip you \q like a woman in labor?^{c 22}And if you ask yourself, \q “Why have these things happened to me?” \q It is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been lifted and your body treated with violence. ²³Can a Cushite change his skin, \q or a leopard its spots? \q Then you too could do good, \q you who have been schooled in evil.^{d 24}I will scatter them like chaff \q blown off by the desert wind. ²⁵This is your lot, the share I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, \q because you have forgotten me \q and put your trust in lies. ²⁶So I myself will pull your skirts up over your face, \q and your shame will be there for all to see. ²⁷Your adulteries and your lustful neighing, \q your shameless prostitution on the hills, out in the open country: I have seen your detestable things. \q Woe to you, Jerusalem! \q You will not become clean. How much longer will it be?