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?
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Jeremiah 13: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 13
13
The Linen Loincloth
1Thus Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not place#Literally “bring” it in water.” 2So I bought the loincloth according to the word of Yahweh and I put it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation on my loins.
3Now the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying,#Literally “to say” 4“Take the loincloth that you bought, that is on your loins, and stand up, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates just as Yahweh had commanded me.
6And then,#Literally “And it happened” after a long time,#Literally “from the end of many days” then Yahweh said to me, “Stand up, go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7Then I went to the Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything.
8And then#Literally “And it happened” the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,#Literally “to say” 9“Thus says Yahweh: ‘So I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go#Or “walk” in the stubbornness of their hearts,#Hebrew “heart” and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything. 11For as the loincloth clings to the loins of a person, so I caused to cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, ‘to be for me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.’
12“Therefore, you shall say to them this word, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Every jar must be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness. 14And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh. “I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them.” ’ ”
15Listen, and pay attention,
you must not be haughty, for Yahweh has spoken.
16Give glory to Yahweh your God before#Literally “at not yet” he brings darkness,
and before#Literally “at not yet” your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight.
And you will hope for light, but he makes it as gloom,
he makes it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation as thick darkness.
17But if you will not listen to it,
my inner self#Or “soul” will weep in secret places,
because of the presence of#Literally “the face of” your pride.
And my eyes#Hebrew “eye” will weep bitterly,
and they will melt in tears,
because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.
A Message for the King and the Queen Mother
18“Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘Take a lower seat,#Literally “Bring low sit”
for your beautiful crown#Literally “the crown of your beauty” has come down from your head.’#Or “at the head of you”
19The towns of the Negev are shut up,
and there is no one who opens them.#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
All of Judah is deported;
it is deported in completeness.
20Lift up your eyes
and see those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
your magnificent flock?#Literally “the flock of your splendor”
21What will you say when he sets over you—
and you have taught them—allies as head over you?
Will not labor pains take hold of you,
like a woman giving birth?
22And if you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered;
your heels have endured violence.
23Can a Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
Then you also will be able to do good,
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24And I will scatter them
like stubble scattered by the wind of the desert.#Or “wilderness”
25This is your lot,
the portion of your measure from me,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh,
“because you have forgotten me,
and you have trusted in the lie.
26So in turn I will bare your skirts over your face,
and your shame will become visible.
27Your adulteries, and your neighings,
the shameful behavior of your fornications
on the hills in the countryside,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you continue to be unclean?#Literally “Not you are clean after how long still””
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