CHAPTER 13
This is what
the LORD
said
to me:
“Go
and buy
yourself a linen
loincloth
and put
it around
your waist,
but do not
let it touch
water.”
“Take
the loincloth
that
you bought
and are wearing,
and go
at once
to Perath
and hide
it there
in a crevice
of the rocks.”
Many
days
later
the LORD
said
to me,
“Arise,
go
to Perath
and get
the loincloth
that
I commanded
you to hide
there.”
So I went
to Perath
and dug up
the loincloth,
and I took
it from
the place
where
I had hidden it.
But now
it
was ruined—
of no
use
at all.
“This is what
the LORD
says:
In the same way
I will ruin
the pride
of Judah
and
the great
pride
of Jerusalem.
These
evil
people,
who refuse
to listen
to My words,
who follow
the stubbornness
of their own hearts,
and who go
after
other
gods
to serve
and worship
them,
they will be
like this
loincloth—
of no
use
at all.
For
just as
a loincloth
clings
to
a man’s
waist,
so I have made
the whole
house
of Israel
and
the whole
house
of Judah
cling
to Me,
declares
the LORD,
so that they might be
My people
for My renown
and praise
and glory,
but they did not
listen.
Therefore you are to tell
them that
this is what
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
says:
‘Every
wineskin
shall be filled
with wine.’
And when they reply,
‘Don’t we
surely
know
that
every
wineskin
should be filled
with wine?’
then you are to tell
them
that this is what
the LORD
says:
‘I am going to fill
with drunkenness
all
who live
in this
land—
the kings
who sit
on David’s
throne,
the priests,
the prophets,
and all
the people
of Jerusalem.
I will smash
them against
each
other,
fathers
and sons
alike,
declares
the LORD.
I will allow no
mercy
or
pity
or
compassion
to keep Me from destroying
them.’”
Give
glory
to the LORD
your God
before
He brings darkness,
before
your feet
stumble
on
the dusky
mountains.
You wait
for light,
but He turns it
into deep gloom
and
thick darkness.
But if
you do not
listen,
I
will weep
alone
because of
your pride;
My eyes
will overflow
with tears,
because
the LORD’s
flock
has been taken captive.
Say
to the king
and to the queen mother:
“Take a lowly
seat,
for
your glorious
crowns
have fallen
from your heads.
The cities
of the Negev
have been shut tight,
and no one
can open them.
All
of Judah
has been carried into exile,
wholly
taken captive.
Lift up
your eyes
and see
those coming
from the north.
Where
is the flock
entrusted to you,
the sheep
that were your pride?
What
will you say
when
He sets
over you
close
allies
whom you
yourself trained?
Will not
pangs of anguish
grip you,
as
they do a woman
in labor?
And if
you ask
yourself,
“Why
has this
happened to me?”
it is because of the magnitude
of your iniquity.
Your skirts
have been stripped off,
your body
exposed.
Can the Ethiopian
change
his skin,
or the leopard
his spots?
Neither
are you
able
to do good—
you who are accustomed
to doing evil.
This
is your lot,
the portion
I have
measured to you,”
declares
the LORD,
“because
you have forgotten Me
and trusted
in falsehood.
Your adulteries
and lustful neighings,
your shameless
prostitution
on
the hills
and in the fields—
I have seen
your detestable acts.
Woe to you,
O Jerusalem!
How long
will you remain
unclean?”