The Linen Belt
1 The Lord said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt and put it on your waist and do not put it in water.”
2 So I bought a belt according to the word of the Lord and put it on my waist.
3 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist and get up. Go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 After many days, the Lord said to me, “Get up. 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 up the belt from the place where I had hidden it, and the belt was ruined. It was useless.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The Lord says, ‘In this way, I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These 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 be like this belt, which is useless.
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, declares the Lord, so that they might be my people, bringing praise and honor and glory to my name, but they would not listen.
The Wineskins
12 Therefore you shall tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘Every container should be filled with wine.’
They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every container should be filled with wine?’ 13 Then tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, 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, the fathers and the sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity, spare, or have compassion on them, that I should not destroy them.’ ”
Captivity Threatened
15 Hear, and give ear.
Do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God,
before he causes darkness,
and before your feet stumble
on the dark mountains.
While you look for light,
he turns it into the shadow of death
and makes it deep darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
I will weep in secret for your pride.
My eyes will weep bitterly,
with tears running down,
because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king
and to the queen mother,
“Take a lowly seat.
for your beautiful crowns
have come down from your heads.
19 The cities of the South have been shut up,
and there is no one to open them.
Judah has been taken captive: all of it.
It has been taken completely captive.
20 Lift up your eyes
and see those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
21 What will you say,
when he sets over you as rulers,
the very ones you trained to be your allies?
Will sorrows not take hold of you,
like of a woman in labor?
22 If you say in your heart,
“Why have these things happened to me?”
Your skirts have been stripped off,
because of the extent of your iniquity,
and you have been violated.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots?
If so, then you who are accustomed to doing evil
may learn to do good.
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 I have measured to you.” says the Lord,
“because you have forgotten me,
and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I will also lift up your skirts to your face,
and your shame will be exposed.
27 I have seen your abominations, 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?”