The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 13
1 Yahweh said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist,
and don’t put it in water.”
2 So I bought a belt according to Yahweh’s word, and put it on my waist.
3 Yahweh’s word came to me the second
time, saying,
4 “Take the belt that you have bought,
which is on your waist, and arise, go to the
Euphrates, and hide itthere in a cleft ofthe
rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as
Yahweh commanded me.
6 After many days, Yahweh said to me,
“Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the
belt from there, which I commanded you
to hide there.”
7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug,
and took the belt from the place where I
had hidden it; and behold, the belt was
ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
9 “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I will ruin
the pride of Judah, and the great pride of
Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear
my words, who walk in the stubbornness
of their heart, and have gone after other
gods to serve them and to worship them,
will even be as this belt, which is profitable
for nothing.
11 For as the belt clings to the waist of
a man, so I have caused the whole house
of Israel and the whole house of Judah to
cling to me,’ says Yahweh; ‘that they may
be to me for a people, for a name, for
praise, and for glory; but they would not
hear.’
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them
this word: ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says,
“Every container should be filled with
wine.” ’ They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly
know that every container shouldbe
filled with wine?’
13 Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold,
I will fill all the inhabitants of this land,
even the kings who sit on David’s throne,
the priests, the prophets, and all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
14 I will dash them one against another,
even the fathers and the sons together,”
says Yahweh: “I will not pity, spare, or
have compassion, thatI should not destroy
them.
15 Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud,
for Yahweh has spoken.
16 Give glory to Yahweh your God,
before he causes darkness,
and before your feet stumble on the
dark mountains, and while you look for light,
he turns it into the shadow of death,
and makes it deep darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it,
my soul will weep in secret for your
pride. My eye will weep bitterly,
and run down with tears,
because Yahweh’s flock has been
taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come
down, even the crown of your glory.
19 The cities of the South are shut up,
and there is no one to open them.
Judah is carried away captive: all of them.
They are wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes,
and see those who come from the
north. Where is the flock that was given to you,
your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when he sets over
you as head those whom you have
yourself taught to be friends to you?
Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a
woman in travail?
22 If you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come on me?”
Your skirts are uncovered because of the
greatness of your iniquity,
and your heels suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots?
Then may you also do good,
who are accustomed to do evil.
24 “Therefore I will scatter them
as the stubble that passes away
by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot,
the portion measured to you from
me,” says Yahweh,
“because you have forgotten me,
and trusted in falsehood.”
26 Therefore I will also uncover your skirts
on your face, and your shame will appear.
27 I have seen your abominations, even
your adulteries and your neighing, the lewdness of
your prostitution, on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean.
How long will it yet be?”