Jeremiah 13:1–14:22
1 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and abuy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.”
2 So I bought the waistband in accordance with the aword of the Lord and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,
4 “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to 1the aEuphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, aas the Lord had commanded me.
6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.”
7 Then 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.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Just so will I destroy the apride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 ‘This wicked people, who arefuse to listen to My words, who bwalk 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 acling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for 1brenown, for cpraise and for glory; but they ddid not listen.’
12 “Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, 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?’
13 then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “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 adrunkenness!
14 “I will adash them against each other, both the bfathers and the sons together,” declares the Lord. “I will cnot show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.” ’ ”
15 Listen and give heed, do not be ahaughty,
For the Lord has spoken.
16 aGive glory to the Lord your God,
Before He brings bdarkness
And before your cfeet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into ddeep darkness,
And turns it into gloom.
17 But aif you will not listen to it,
My soul will bsob in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the cflock of the Lord has been taken captive.
18 Say to the aking and the queen mother,
“bTake a lowly seat,
For your beautiful ccrown
Has come down from your head.”
19 The acities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All bJudah has been carried into exile,
Wholly carried into exile.
Those coming afrom the north.
Where is the bflock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 “What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former 1acompanions to be head over you?
Will not bpangs take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
22 “If you asay in your heart,
‘bWhy have these things happened to me?’
Because of the cmagnitude of your iniquity
dYour skirts have been removed
And your heels have 1been exposed.
23 “aCan the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can bdo good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “Therefore I will ascatter them like drifting straw
To the desert bwind.
25 “This is your alot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Because you have bforgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
26 “So I Myself have also astripped your skirts off over your face,
That your shame may be seen.
27 “As for your aadulteries and your lustful neighings,
The blewdness of your prostitution
On the chills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
dHow long will you remain unclean?”
Drought and a Prayer for Mercy
1 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the adrought:
And aher gates languish;
They sit on the ground bin mourning,
And the ccry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3 “Their nobles have asent their 1servants for water;
They have come to the bcisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their vessels empty;
They have been cput to shame and humiliated,
And they dcover their heads.
4 “Because the aground is 1cracked,
For there has been bno rain on the land;
The cfarmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
5 “For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is ano grass.
6 “The awild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
For there is bno vegetation.
7 “Although our ainiquities testify against us,
O Lord, act bfor Your name’s sake!
Truly our capostasies have been many,
We have dsinned against You.
8 “O aHope of Israel,
Its bSavior in ctime of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
9 “Why are You like a man dismayed,
Like a mighty man who acannot save?
Yet bYou are in our midst, O Lord,
And we are ccalled by Your name;
Do not forsake us!”
10 Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have aloved to wander; they have not bkept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does cnot accept them; now He will dremember their iniquity and call their sins to account.”
11 So the Lord said to me, “aDo not pray for the welfare of this people.
12 “When they fast, I am anot going to listen to their cry; and when they offer bburnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to cmake an end of them by the dsword, famine and pestilence.”
13 But, “Ah, Lord 1God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You awill not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you 2lasting bpeace in this place.’ ”
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The aprophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. bI have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a cfalse vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own 1minds.
15 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—aby sword and famine those prophets shall 1meet their end!
16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be athrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bbury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will cpour out their own wickedness on them.
17 “You will say this word to them,
‘aLet my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin bdaughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely cinfected wound.
18 ‘If I ago out to the country,
Behold, those 1slain with the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
Behold, diseases of famine!
For bboth prophet and priest
Have 2gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’ ”
19 Have You completely arejected Judah?
Or have 1You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we bare beyond healing?
We cwaited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
20 We aknow our wickedness, O Lord,
The iniquity of our fathers, for bwe have sinned against You.
21 Do not despise us, afor Your own name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the bthrone of Your glory;
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the 1aidols of the nations who bgive rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, O Lord our God?
For You are the one who has done all these things.