Jeremiah 13
13
Jeremiah’s Linen Loincloth
1This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” 2So I bought the loincloth as the Lord directed me, and I put it on.
3Then the Lord gave me another message: 4“Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River.#13:4 Hebrew Perath; also in 13:5, 6, 7. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me.
6A long time afterward the Lord said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” 7So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing.
8Then I received this message from the Lord: 9“This is what the Lord says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! 11As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.
12“So tell them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: May all your jars be filled with wine.’ And they will reply, ‘Of course! Jars are made to be filled with wine!’
13“Then tell them, ‘No, this is what the Lord means: I will fill everyone in this land with drunkenness—from the king sitting on David’s throne to the priests and the prophets, right down to the common people of Jerusalem. 14I will smash them against each other, even parents against children, says the Lord. I will not let my pity or mercy or compassion keep me from destroying them.’”
A Warning against Pride
15Listen and pay attention!
Do not be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken.
16Give glory to the Lord your God
before it is too late.
Acknowledge him before he brings darkness upon you,
causing you to stumble and fall on the darkening mountains.
For then, when you look for light,
you will find only terrible darkness and gloom.
17And if you still refuse to listen,
I will weep alone because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
because the Lord’s flock will be led away into exile.
18Say to the king and his mother,
“Come down from your thrones
and sit in the dust,
for your glorious crowns
will soon be snatched from your heads.”
19The towns of the Negev will close their gates,
and no one will be able to open them.
The people of Judah will be taken away as captives.
All will be carried into exile.
20Open up your eyes and see
the armies marching down from the north!
Where is your flock—
your beautiful flock—
that he gave you to care for?
21What will you say when the Lord takes the allies you have cultivated
and appoints them as your rulers?
Pangs of anguish will grip you,
like those of a woman in labor!
22You may ask yourself,
“Why is all this happening to me?”
It is because of your many sins!
That is why you have been stripped
and raped by invading armies.
23Can an Ethiopian#13:23 Hebrew a Cushite. change the color of his skin?
Can a leopard take away its spots?
Neither can you start doing good,
for you have always done evil.
24“I will scatter you like chaff
that is blown away by the desert winds.
25This is your allotment,
the portion I have assigned to you,”
says the Lord,
“for you have forgotten me,
putting your trust in false gods.
26I myself will strip you
and expose you to shame.
27I have seen your adultery and lust,
and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills.
What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem!
How long before you are pure?”
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Jeremiah 13: NLT
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Jeremiah 13
13
Jeremiah 13
1¶ Thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water.
2And I bought the girdle according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.
3And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,
4Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6And it came to pass after many days that the Lord said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.
8Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9Thus hath the Lord said, After this manner I will cause the pride of Judah to rot and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10This evil people that refuses to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and went after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people and for fame, and for a praise, and for honour; but they did not hear.
12¶ Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus hath the Lord God of Israel said, Every bottle shall be filled with wine; and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus hath the Lord said, Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
14And I will break them one against another, even the fathers with the sons together, saith the Lord; I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy to not destroy them.
15Hear ye and give ear; do not be proud: for the Lord has spoken.
16Give glory to the Lord your God before he causes darkness and before your feet stumble in mountains of darkness, and while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death and makes it gross darkness.
17But if ye will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; and weeping bitterly, my eyes shall be undone in tears because the Lord’s flock was carried away captive.
18Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down in the dust because the crown of your glory has come down off your heads.
19The cities of the south were shut up, and no one could open them: Judah was carried away captive; all of it, it was completely carried away captive.
20Lift up your eyes, and behold those that come from the north wind: where is the flock that was given thee, the cattle of thy beauty?
21What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? For thou hast taught them to be princes and as head over thee; shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail?
22¶ When thou shalt say in thine heart, Why do these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare.
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Likewise ye also cannot do good, being taught to do evil.
24Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25This shall be thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me said the Lord; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26Therefore I uncovered thy skirts before thy face, and thy shame was manifested.
27I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom upon the hills; in the same field I saw thine abominations. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean at last? How long then shall it be?
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International