Jeremiah 13

The Linen Belt Symbol

1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”

2 So I bought the belt as the LORD commanded and put it on.

3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time:

4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing, go now to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a crack in the rocks.”

5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD commanded.

6 After many days the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the belt.”

7 So I went and dug it up, but the belt was ruined, completely useless.

Judah’s Pride Exposed

8 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

9 “This is what the LORD says: In the same way, I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.”

10 “These wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who stubbornly follow their own hearts and chase after other gods, they will become like this useless belt.”

11 “For just as a belt is meant to cling to a man’s waist, so I made Israel and Judah cling to Me,” declares the LORD, “so they would be My people, a source of praise and glory. But they would not listen.”

The Wineskins of Wrath

12 “Tell them this: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin will be filled with wine.’” And if they say, “We already know that,”

13 Then say, “This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill all who live in this land, the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.”

14 “I will smash them against each other, parents and children alike,” declares the LORD. “I will not spare or pity or show mercy, I will destroy them.”

A Call to Repent Before It Is Too Late

15 “Listen and pay attention; do not be arrogant, the LORD has spoken.”

16 “Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on darkening hills. You hope for light, but He will turn it into thick shadows and deep gloom.”

17 “But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.”

The King and Queen Mother Humiliated

18 “Say to the king and the queen mother: ‘Come down from your thrones, for your crowns have fallen from your heads.’”

19 “The cities of the Negev are shut down with no one to open them. All Judah is carried away into exile, completely taken away.”

Jerusalem’s Shame

20 “Look up and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, your beautiful sheep?”

21 “What will you say when the LORD appoints rulers over you, those you once trusted as allies, Will not pain grip you like a woman in labor?”

22 “If you say in your heart, ‘Why has this happened to me?’ It is because of your many sins that your skirts are torn off and you are treated with shame.”

Sin Is Deeply Rooted

23 “Can a Cushite change his skin or a leopard its spots, Then you who are accustomed to doing evil cannot do good.”

24 “I will scatter you like chaff blown away by the desert wind.”

25 “This is your lot, the portion I have assigned to you,” declares the LORD, “because you forgot Me and trusted in false gods.”

26 “I Myself will pull up your skirts over your face so your shame is exposed.”

27 “I have seen your detestable acts, your lust on the hills and in the fields, your unfaithfulness. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long until you will finally be made clean?”