A linen belt

1This is what the Lord said to me: ‘Go and buy a linen belt and put it round your waist, but do not let it touch water.’ 2So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it round my waist.

3Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4‘Take the belt you bought and are wearing round your waist, and go now to Perath13:4 Or possibly to the Euphrates; similarly in verses 5-7 and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.’ 5So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

6Many days later the Lord said to me, ‘Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.’ 7So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

8Then 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. 10These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt – completely useless! 11For as a belt is bound round the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,” declares the Lord, “to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.”

Wineskins

12‘Say to them: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: every wineskin should be filled with wine.” And if they say to you, “Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?” 13then tell them, “This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.” ’

Threat of captivity

15Hear and pay attention,

do not be arrogant,

for the Lord has spoken.

16Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings the darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the darkening hills.

You hope for light,

but he will turn it to utter darkness

and change it to deep gloom.

17If you do not listen,

I will weep in secret

because of your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly,

overflowing with tears,

because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

18Say to the king and to the queen mother,

‘Come down from your thrones,

for your glorious crowns

will fall from your heads.’

19The cities in the Negev will be shut up,

and there will be no-one to open them.

All Judah will be carried into exile,

carried completely away.

20Look up and see

those who are coming from the north.

Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,

the sheep of which you boasted?

21What will you say when the Lord sets over you

those you cultivated as your special allies?

Will not pain grip you

like that of a woman in labour?

22And if you ask yourself,

‘Why has this happened to me?’ –

it is because of your many sins

that your skirts have been torn off

and your body ill-treated.

23Can an Ethiopian13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region) change his skin

or a leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil.

24‘I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the desert wind.

25This is your lot,

the portion I have decreed for you,’ declares the Lord,

‘because you have forgotten me

and trusted in false gods.

26I will pull up your skirts over your face

that your shame may be seen –

27your adulteries and lustful neighings,

your shameless prostitution!

I have seen your detestable acts

on the hills and in the fields.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

How long will you be unclean?’