The Ruined Waistband
1Thus YHVH said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3Then the word of YHVH came to me a second time, saying, 4“Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as YHVH had commanded me. 6After many days YHVH said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.” 7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.
8Then the word of YHVH came to me, saying, 9“Thus says YHVH, ‘Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10‘This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. 11‘For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares YHVH, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’
Captivity Threatened
12“Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says YHVH, the God of Israel, “Every jug is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’ 13then say to them, ‘Thus says YHVH, “Behold I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14“I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,” declares YHVH. “I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.”’”
15Listen and give heed, do not be haughty,
For YHVH has spoken.
16Give glory to YHVH your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into deep darkness,
And turns it into gloom.
17But if you will not listen to it,
My soul will sob in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the flock of YHVH has been taken captive.
18Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful crown
Has come down from your head.”
19The cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All Judah has been carried into exile,
Wholly carried into exile.
20“Lift up your eyes and see
Those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21“What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former companions to be head over you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
22“If you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the magnitude of your iniquity
Your skirts have been removed
And your heels have been exposed.
23“Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
24“Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert wind.
25“This is your lot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares YHVH,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
26“So I Myself have also stripped your skirts off over your face,
That your shame may be seen.
27“As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
The lewdness of your prostitution
On the hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?”
Jeremiah 13
The Sabbath Must Be Kept
19Thus YHVH said to me, “Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of YHVH, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates: 21‘Thus says YHVH, “Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.22“You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. 23“Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.
24“But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,” declares YHVH, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, 25then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.26“They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of YHVH. 27“But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.”’”