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The Sign of the Loincloth

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Jeremiah, go and buy a linen loincloth.[a] Then put it around your waist. Don’t let it get wet.”

So I bought a linen loincloth, just as the Lord told me to do, and I put it around my waist. Then the message from the Lord came to me a second time. This was the message: “Jeremiah, take the loincloth you bought and are wearing, and go to Perath.[b] Hide the loincloth there in a crack in the rocks.”

So I went to Perath and hid the loincloth there, just as the Lord told me to do. Many days later the Lord said to me, “Now, Jeremiah, go to Perath. Get the loincloth that I told you to hide there.”

So I went to Perath and dug the loincloth out of the crack in the rocks where I had hidden it. But now I could not wear the loincloth, because it was ruined. It was not good for anything.

Then the message from the Lord came to me. This is what the Lord said: “The loincloth is ruined and not good for anything. In the same way, I will ruin the proud people of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 I will ruin them because they refuse to listen to my messages. They are stubborn and do only what they want to do. They follow and worship other gods. They will be like this linen loincloth. They will be ruined and not good for anything. 11 A loincloth is wrapped tightly around a man’s waist. In the same way, I wrapped the family of Israel and the family of Judah around me.” This message is from the Lord. “I did that so that they would be my people and bring me fame, praise, and honor. But my people did not listen to me.”

Warnings to Judah

12 “Jeremiah, say to the people of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ They will laugh and say to you, ‘Of course, we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ 13 Then you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will make everyone who lives in this land helpless, like a drunken man. I am talking about the kings who sit on David’s throne. I am also talking about the priests, the prophets, and all the people who live in Jerusalem. 14 I will make them stumble and fall against each other, even the fathers and sons.’ This message is from the Lord. ‘I will not feel sorry or have pity for them. I will not allow compassion to stop me from destroying the people of Judah.’”

15 Listen and pay attention.
    The Lord has spoken to you.
    Do not be proud.
16 Honor the Lord your God.
    Praise him or he will bring darkness.
    Praise him before you fall on the dark hills.
You people of Judah are hoping for light,
    but the Lord will turn the light into thick darkness.
    He will change it into the deepest gloom.
17 If you people of Judah don’t listen to him,
    I will hide and cry.
Your pride will cause me to cry.
    I will cry very hard.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
    because the Lord’s flock[c] will be captured.
18 Tell these things to the king and his wife,
    “Come down from your thrones.
    Your beautiful crowns have fallen from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev are locked.
    No one can open them.
All the people of Judah have been taken away as captives.
    They were carried away as prisoners.

20 Jerusalem, look!
    The enemy is coming from the north[d]!
Where is the flock[e] you were once in charge of?
    That beautiful flock is gone now.
21 I will let your enemies become your rulers—
    people you once trusted with your secrets.
    What will you say then?
Surely you will feel great pain,
    like a woman giving birth.
22 You might ask yourself,
    “Why has this bad thing happened to me?”
It happened because of your many sins.
    Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off,
    and your sandals were taken away.
    They did this to embarrass you.
23 A black man cannot change the color of his skin,
    and a leopard cannot change its spots.
In the same way, Jerusalem, you cannot change and do good.
    You always do bad things.

24 “I will force you to leave your homes.
    You will run in all directions.
    You will be like chaff blown away by the desert wind.
25 This is what will happen to you.
    This is your part in my plans.”
    This message is from the Lord.
“Why will this happen?
    Because you forgot me.
    You trusted false gods.
26 Jerusalem, I will pull your skirt up over your face.
    Everyone will see you,
    and you will be ashamed.
27 I saw the terrible things you did.[f]
    I saw you laughing and having sex with your lovers.
I know about your plans to be like a prostitute.
    I have seen you on the hills and in the fields.
It will be very bad for you, Jerusalem.
    How long will you continue doing your dirty sins?”

Drought and False Prophets

14 This is the Lord’s message to Jeremiah about the drought[g]:

“The nation of Judah cries for people who have died.
    The people in the cities of Judah grow weaker and weaker.
They lie on the ground.
    People in Jerusalem, cry to God for help.
The leaders of the people send their servants to get water.
    The servants go to the water storage places,
    but they don’t find any water.
The servants come back with empty jars,
    so they are ashamed and embarrassed.
    They cover their heads from shame.
No one prepares the ground for crops.[h]
    No rain falls on the land.
The farmers are depressed.
    So they cover their heads from shame.
Even the mother deer in the field leaves her newborn baby alone,
    because there is no grass.
Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills.
    They sniff the wind like jackals.
But their eyes cannot find any food,
    because there are no plants to eat.

“We know that this is our fault.
    We are now suffering because of our sins.
    Lord, do something to help us for the good of your name.
We admit that we have left you many times.
    We have sinned against you.
God, you are the hope of Israel!
    You save Israel in times of trouble.
But now it seems like you are a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who only stays one night.
You seem like a man who has been attacked by surprise,
    like a soldier who does not have the power to save anyone.
But, Lord, you are with us.
    We are called by your name, so don’t leave us without help!”

10 This is what the Lord says about the people of Judah: “The people of Judah really love to leave me. They don’t stop themselves from leaving me. So now the Lord will not accept them. Now he will remember the evil they do. He will punish them for their sins.”

11 Then the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, don’t pray for good things to happen to the people of Judah. 12 They might begin to fast and pray to me, but I will not listen to their prayers. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. I will destroy the people of Judah with war. I will take away their food, and they will starve. And I will destroy them with terrible diseases.”

13 But I said, “Lord God, the prophets were telling the people something different. They were telling the people of Judah, ‘You will not suffer from war or from hunger. The Lord will give you peace in this land.’”

14 Then the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, those prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or command them or speak to them. Their prophecies came from false visions, worthless magic, and their own wishful thinking. 15 So this is what I, the Lord, say about the prophets who are speaking in my name. I did not send them. They said, ‘No enemy will ever attack this country. There will never be hunger in this land.’ So those prophets will die from hunger or by an enemy’s sword. 16 And the people they spoke to will be thrown into the streets. The people will die from hunger and war. I will punish them, and no one will be there to bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters.

17 “Jeremiah, speak this message to the people of Judah:

‘My eyes fill with tears
    night and day without stopping.
I cry for my virgin daughter,[i] and for my dear people,
    because someone hit them and crushed them.
    They have been hurt very badly.
18 If I go into the country,
    I see the bodies of those killed in war.
If I go into the city,
    I see people sick from hunger.
The priests and prophets continue their work,
    but they don’t understand what is happening.’”

19 Lord, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?
    Do you hate Zion?
You hurt us so badly that we cannot be made well again.
    Why did you do that?
We were hoping for peace,
    but nothing good has come.
We were hoping for a time of healing,
    but only terror came.
20 Lord, we know that we are wicked.
    We know that our ancestors did evil things.
    Yes, we sinned against you.
21 For the good of your name, don’t push us away.
    Don’t take away the honor from your glorious throne.
Remember your agreement with us
    and do not break it.
22 Foreign idols don’t have the power to bring rain.
    The sky does not have the power to send down showers of rain.
You, the Lord our God, are our only hope.
    You are the one who made all these things.

15 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel were here to pray for the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for them. Send the people of Judah away from me! Tell them to go! They might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ Tell them this is what the Lord says:

“‘I have chosen some people to die.
    They will die.
I have chosen some to be killed with swords.
    They will be killed with swords.
I have chosen some to die from hunger.
    They will die from hunger.
I have chosen some to be taken away to a foreign country.
    They will be prisoners there.
I will send four kinds of destroyers against them.’
    This message is from the Lord.
‘I will send the enemy with a sword to kill.
    I will send the dogs to drag their bodies away.
I will send birds of the air and wild animals
    to eat and destroy their bodies.
I will make the people of Judah
    an example of something terrible for all the people on earth.
I will do this to the people of Judah
    because of what Manasseh[j] did in Jerusalem.
Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.
    Manasseh was a king of Judah.’

“No one will feel sorry for you, city of Jerusalem.
    No one will be sad and cry for you.
    No one will go out of their way to even ask how you are.
Jerusalem, you left me.”
    This message is from the Lord.
“Again and again you left me!
    So I will punish and destroy you.
    I am tired of holding back your punishment.
I will separate the people of Judah with my pitchfork.[k]
    I will scatter them at the city gates of the land.
My people have not changed,
    so I will destroy them.
    I will take away their children.
Many women will lose their husbands.
    There will be more widows than there is sand in the sea.
I will bring a destroyer at noontime.
    The destroyer will attack the mothers of the young men of Judah.
I will bring pain and fear on the people of Judah.
    I will make this happen very quickly.
The enemy will attack with swords and kill the people.
    They will kill the survivors from Judah.
A woman with seven children will lose them.
    She will cry until she becomes weak and struggles to breathe.
She will be upset and confused,
    because her bright day has become dark.”
This message is from the Lord.

Jeremiah Complains to God Again

10 Mother, I am sorry
    that you gave birth to me.
I am the one who must accuse
    and criticize the whole land.
I have not loaned or borrowed anything,
    but everyone curses me.
11 Surely, Lord, I have served you well.
    In times of disaster and trouble,
    I prayed to you about my enemies.

God Answers Jeremiah

12 “Jeremiah, you know that no one
    can shatter a piece of iron.
I mean the kind of iron that is from the north.[l]
    And no one can shatter a piece of bronze either.
13 The people of Judah have many treasures.
    I will give these riches to other people.
They will not have to buy them,
    because Judah has many sins.
    The people sinned in every part of Judah.
14 People of Judah, I will make you slaves of your enemies.
    You will be slaves in a land that you never knew.
I am very angry.
    My anger is like a hot fire,
    and you will be burned.”

15 Lord, you understand me.
    Remember me and take care of me.
People are hurting me.
    Give them the punishment they deserve.
You are being patient with them.
    But don’t destroy me while you remain patient with them.
Think about me.
    Think about the pain I suffer for you.
16 Your words came to me, and I ate them up.
    They made me very happy.
I was glad to be called by your name,
    Lord God All-Powerful.
17 I never sat with the crowd
    as they laughed and had fun.
I sat by myself because of your influence on me.
    You filled me with anger at the evil around me.
18 I don’t understand why I still hurt.
    I don’t understand why my wound is not cured and cannot be healed.
I think you have changed.
    You are like a spring of water that became dry.
    You are like a spring whose water has stopped flowing.

19 Then the Lord said, “Jeremiah, if you change and come back to me,
    I will not punish you.
If you change and come back to me,
    then you may serve me.
If you speak important things, not worthless words,
    then you may speak for me.
The people of Judah should change and come back to you.
    But don’t you change and be like them.
20 I will make you strong.
    The people will think you are strong,
    like a wall made of bronze.
The people of Judah will fight against you,
    but they will not defeat you.
They will not defeat you,
    because I am with you.
I will help you, and I will save you.”
    This message is from the Lord.
21 “I will save you from these evil people.
    They frighten you, but I will save you from them.”

The Day of Disaster

16 The Lord’s message came to me: “Jeremiah, you must not get married. You must not have sons or daughters in this place.”

This is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters who are born in the land of Judah and about their mothers and fathers: “They will die from terrible disease. And no one will cry for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. Or they will die in war or starve to death. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth.”

So the Lord says, “Jeremiah, don’t go into a house where people are eating a funeral meal. Don’t go there to cry for the dead or to show your sorrow. Don’t do these things, because I have taken back my blessing. I will not be kind to the people of Judah. I will not feel sorry for them.” This message is from the Lord.

“Important people and common people will die in the land of Judah. No one will bury them or cry for them. No one will cut himself or shave his head to show sorrow for them. No one will bring food to those who are crying for the dead. No one will comfort those whose mother or father has died. No one will offer a drink to comfort those who are crying for the dead.

“Jeremiah, don’t go into a house where the people are having a party. Don’t go into that house and sit down to eat and drink. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel says: I will soon stop the sounds of people having fun. I will stop the happy sounds of people enjoying a wedding party. This will happen during your lifetime. I will do these things very soon.

10 “Jeremiah, you will tell the people of Judah these things, and the people will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’ 11 You must tell them: ‘Terrible things will happen to you because your ancestors stopped following me.’ This message is from the Lord. ‘They stopped following me and began to follow and serve other gods. They worshiped those other gods. Your ancestors left me and stopped obeying my law. 12 But you people have sinned more than your ancestors. You are very stubborn, and you are doing only what you want to do. You are not obeying me. Because you do only what you want to do, 13 I will throw you out of this country. I will force you to go to a foreign land. You will go to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve false gods all you want to. I will not help you or show you any favors.’

14 “People make promises and say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives—the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt ….’ But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not say that. 15 They will say something new. They will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives—the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the northern land, who brought them out of all the countries where he had sent them ….’ Why will they say that? Because I will bring the Israelites back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.

16 “I will soon send for many fishermen to come to this land.” This message is from the Lord. “They will catch the people of Judah. After that happens, I will send for many hunters[m] to come to this land. They will hunt the people of Judah on every mountain and hill and in the cracks of the rocks. 17 I see everything they do. The people of Judah cannot hide the things they do. Their sin is not hidden from me. 18 I will pay the people of Judah back for the evil things they did—I will punish them two times for every sin. I will do this because they have made my land ‘dirty.’ They made my land ‘dirty’ with their terrible idols. I hate those idols, but they have filled my country with their idols.”

19 Lord, you are my strength and my protection.
    You are a safe place to run to in time of trouble.
The nations will come to you from all around the world.
    They will say, “Our fathers had false gods.
They worshiped those worthless idols,
    but the idols did not help them.
20 Can people make real gods for themselves?
    No, they can only make statues that are not really gods.”

21 “So I will teach those who make idols.
    Right now I will teach them about my power and my strength.
Then they will know that I am God.
    They will know that I am the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 13:1 loincloth A common undergarment in ancient Judah. It was a short skirt that was wrapped around the hips. It reached about halfway down the thighs.
  2. Jeremiah 13:4 Perath Probably a village near Jerusalem. This town is called Parah in the list of the cities of the land of Benjamin in Josh. 18:23. But this name also means the Euphrates River.
  3. Jeremiah 13:17 Lord’s flock This is a figurative name for the people of Judah. The Lord is thought of as a shepherd, while his people are seen as his flock of sheep.
  4. Jeremiah 13:20 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
  5. Jeremiah 13:20 flock Here, the word “flock” refers to all the towns around Jerusalem, as if Jerusalem were the shepherd and the towns of Judah were her flock.
  6. Jeremiah 13:27 I saw … you did This is probably talking about worshiping false gods. But part of that worship was having sex with temple prostitutes.
  7. Jeremiah 14:1 drought A time when no rain falls and the crops become dry and die.
  8. Jeremiah 14:4 No one … crops This follows the ancient Greek version. The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
  9. Jeremiah 14:17 virgin daughter Another name for Jerusalem.
  10. Jeremiah 15:4 Manasseh Manasseh was the most evil king of Judah according to 2 Kings 21:1-16. He worshiped many gods.
  11. Jeremiah 15:7 pitchfork A tool with sharp points for throwing hay from one place to another.
  12. Jeremiah 15:12 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
  13. Jeremiah 16:16 fishermen … hunters This means the enemy soldiers from Babylon.

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