Jeremiah 13
13
Jeremiah's Linen Shorts
1The Lord told me, “Go and buy a pair of linen shorts. Wear them for a while, but don't wash them.” 2So I bought a pair of shorts and put them on.
3Then the Lord said, 4“Take off the shorts. Go to Parah#13.4 Parah: Or “the Euphrates River.” Parah was a village about nine kilometers northeast of Jerusalem. and hide the shorts in a crack between some large rocks.” 5And that's what I did.
6Some time later the Lord said, “Go back and get the shorts.” 7I went back and dug the shorts out of their hiding place, but the cloth had rotted, and the shorts were ruined.
8Then the Lord said:
9Jeremiah, I will use Babylonia to#13.9 I will use Babylonia to: Or “that's how I'm going to.” destroy the pride of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 10The people of Judah are evil and stubborn. So instead of listening to me, they do whatever they want and even worship other gods. When I am finished with these people, they will be good for nothing, just like this pair of shorts. 11These shorts were tight around your waist, and that's how tightly I held onto the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. I wanted them to be my people. I wanted to make them famous, so that other nations would praise and honor me, but they refused to obey me.
Wine Jars
The Lord said:
12Jeremiah, tell the people of Judah, “The Lord God of Israel orders you to fill your wine jars with wine.”
They will answer, “Of course we fill our wine jars with wine! Why are you telling us something we already know?”
13Then say to them:
I am the Lord, and what I'm going to do will make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem appear to be full of wine. And the worst ones will be the kings of David's family and the priests and the prophets. 14Then I will smash them against each other like jars. I will have no pity on the young or the old, and they will all be destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken.
The People of Judah Will Be Taken Away
15People of Judah,
don't be too proud to listen
to what the Lord has said.
16You hope for light,
but God is sending darkness.
Evening shadows already deepen
in the hills.
So return to God
and confess your sins to him
before you trip and fall.
17If you are too proud to listen,
I will weep alone.
Tears will stream from my eyes
when the Lord's people
are taken away as prisoners.
18The Lord told me to tell you
that your king and his mother#13.18 mother: The king's mother usually had an important position in the royal court.
must surrender their thrones
and remove their crowns.#13.18 and remove their crowns: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
19The cities in the Southern Desert
are surrounded;
no one can get in or out.
Everyone in Judah
will be taken away.
20Jerusalem, you were so proud
of ruling the people of Judah.
But where are they now?
Look north, and you will see
your enemies approaching.
21You once trusted them to help,
but now I'll let them rule you.#13.21 You once … rule you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
What do you say about that?
You will be in pain
like a woman giving birth.
22Do you know why
your clothes were torn off
and you were abused?
It was because
of your terrible sins.
23Can you ever change
and do what's right?
Can people change the color
of their skin,
or can a leopard
remove its spots?
If so, then maybe you can change
and learn to do right.
24I will scatter you,
just as the desert wind
blows husks from grain
tossed in the air.
25I won't change my mind.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
You rejected me
and worshiped false gods.
* 26You were married to me,
but you were unfaithful.
You even became a prostitute#13.26 prostitute: See the note at 2.20.
by worshiping disgusting gods
on hilltops and in fields.
27So I'll rip off your clothes
and leave you naked and ashamed
for everyone to see.
You are doomed!
Will you ever be worthy
to worship me again?
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 13: CEVDCI
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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?
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International