Jeremiah 13-16

New American Standard Bible

The Ruined Undergarment

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and ^(A)buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I bought the undergarment in accordance with the ^(B)word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴“Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the ^(C)Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, ^(D)as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the undergarment which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the undergarment from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the undergarment was ruined, it was completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“This is what the Lord says: ‘To the same extent I will destroy the ^(E)pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This wicked people, who ^(F)refuse to listen to My words, who ^(G)walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless. ¹¹For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah ^(H)cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that they might be My people, for ^[a]^(I)renown, for ^(J)praise, and for glory; but they ^(K)did not listen.’

Captivity Threatened

¹²“Therefore you are to speak this word to them. ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “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, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with ^(L)drunkenness! ¹⁴Then I will ^(M)smash them against each other, both the ^(N)fathers and the sons together,” declares the Lord. “I will ^(O)not have compassion nor be troubled nor take pity so as to keep from destroying them.”’”

¹⁵Listen and pay attention, do not be ^(P)haughty;
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(Q)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He brings ^(R)darkness
And before your ^(S)feet stumble
On the mountains in the dark,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into ^(T)gloom,
And turns it into thick darkness.
¹⁷But ^(U)if you do not listen to it,
My soul will ^(V)weep in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will shed
And stream down tears,
Because the ^(W)flock of the Lord has been taken captive.
¹⁸Say to the ^(X)king and the queen mother,
“^(Y)Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful ^(Z)crown
Has come down from your head.”
¹⁹The ^(AA)cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All ^(AB)Judah has been taken into exile,
Wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Raise your eyes and see
Those coming ^(AC)from the north.
Where is the ^(AD)flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former ^(AE)companions to be head over you?
Will ^(AF)sharp pains not take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
²²If you ^(AG)say in your heart,
‘^(AH)Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the ^(AI)magnitude of your wrongdoing
^(AJ)Your skirts have been removed
And your ^[b]heels have suffered violence.
²³^(AK)Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you as well can ^(AL)do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
²⁴Therefore I will ^(AM)scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert ^(AN)wind.
²⁵This is your ^(AO)lot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Because you have ^(AP)forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
²⁶So I Myself have ^(AQ)stripped your skirts off over your face,
So that your shame will be seen.
²⁷As for your ^(AR)adulteries and your lustful neighings,
The ^(AS)outrageous sin of your prostitution
On the ^(AT)hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
^(AU)How long will you remain unclean?”

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

14 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah regarding the ^(AV)drought:

²“Judah mourns
And ^(AW)her gates languish;
Her people sit on the ground ^(AX)in mourning garments,
And the ^(AY)cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
³Their nobles have ^(AZ)sent their ^[c]servants for water;
They have come to the ^(BA)cisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their containers empty;
They have been ^(BB)put to shame and humiliated,
And they ^(BC)cover their heads,
⁴Because the ^(BD)ground is ^[d]cracked,
For there has been ^(BE)no rain on the land.
The ^(BF)farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
⁵For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is ^(BG)no grass.
⁶The ^(BH)wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
Because there is ^(BI)no vegetation.
⁷Though our ^(BJ)wrongdoings testify against us,
Lord, act ^(BK)for the sake of Your name!
Our ^(BL)apostasies have indeed been many,
We have ^(BM)sinned against You.
⁸^(BN)Hope of Israel,
Its ^(BO)Savior in ^(BP)time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land,
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
⁹Why are You like a confused person,
Like a warrior who ^(BQ)cannot save?
Yet ^(BR)You are in our midst, Lord,
And we are ^(BS)called by Your name;
Do not leave us!”

¹⁰This is what the Lord says to this people: “So much they have ^(BT)loved to wander; they have not ^(BU)restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does ^(BV)not accept them; now He will ^(BW)remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account.” ¹¹So the Lord said to me, “^(BX)Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. ¹²When they fast, I am ^(BY)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer ^(BZ)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to ^(CA)put an end to them by the ^(CB)sword, famine, and plague.”

False Prophets

¹³But I said, “Oh, Lord ^[e]God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You ^(CC)will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting ^(CD)peace in this place.’” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “The ^(CE)prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. ^(CF)I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a ^(CG)false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own ^[f]minds. ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says 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’—^(CH)by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! ¹⁶And the people to whom they are prophesying will be ^(CI)thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to ^(CJ)bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will ^(CK)pour out their own wickedness upon them.

¹⁷You will say this word to them,
‘^(CL)Let my eyes stream down tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin ^(CM)daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely ^(CN)infected wound.
¹⁸If I ^(CO)go out to the country,
There are those killed by the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
There are diseases from famine!
For ^(CP)both prophet and priest
Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’”

¹⁹Have You completely ^(CQ)rejected Judah?
Or have ^[g]You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we ^(CR)are beyond healing?
We ^(CS)waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
²⁰We ^(CT)know our wickedness, Lord,
The wrongdoing of our fathers, for ^(CU)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not despise us, ^(CV)for the sake of Your own name;
Do not disgrace the ^(CW)throne of Your glory.
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among the ^[h]^(CX)idols of the nations who ^(CY)give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, Lord our God?
Therefore we ^(CZ)wait for You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.

Judgment Must Come

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even ^(DA)if ^(DB)Moses and ^(DC)Samuel were to ^(DD)stand before Me, My ^[i]heart would not be ^[j]with this people. ^(DE)Send them away from My presence and have them go! ²And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Those destined ^(DF)for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

³And I will ^(DG)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the ^(DH)dogs to drag away, and the ^(DI)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will ^(DJ)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ^(DK)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Indeed, who will have ^(DL)pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will ^(DM)mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
⁶You who have ^(DN)forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep ^(DO)going backward.
So I will ^(DP)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am ^(DQ)tired of relenting!
⁷I will ^(DR)winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will ^(DS)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
^(DT)They did not ^[k]repent of their ways.
⁸Their ^(DU)widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A ^(DV)destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
⁹She who ^(DW)gave birth to seven sons withers away;
^[l]Her breathing is labored.
Her ^(DX)sun has set while it was still day;
She has been ^(DY)shamed and humiliated.
So I will ^(DZ)turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰^(EA)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a ^(EB)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not ^(EC)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
¹¹The Lord said, “I will certainly ^(ED)set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the ^(EE)enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

¹²“Can anyone smash iron,
^(EF)Iron from the north, or bronze?
¹³I will give your ^(EG)wealth and your treasures
As plunder ^(EH)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
¹⁴Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a ^(EI)land that you do not know;
For a ^(EJ)fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

¹⁵^(EK)You know, Lord;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And ^(EL)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that ^(EM)for Your sake I endure reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found and I ^(EN)ate them,
And Your ^(EO)words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been ^(EP)called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
¹⁷I ^(EQ)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat ^(ER)alone,
For You ^(ES)filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why has my pain been endless
And my ^(ET)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me ^(EU)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“^(EV)If you return, then I will restore you—
^(EW)You will stand before Me;
And ^(EX)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become ^[m]My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
²⁰Then I will ^(EY)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For ^(EZ)I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord.
²¹“So I will ^(FA)rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will ^(FB)redeem you from the ^[n]grasp of the violent.”

Distresses Foretold

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ²“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For this is what the Lord says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their ^(FC)mothers who give birth to them, and their ^(FD)fathers who father them in this land: ⁴“They will ^(FE)die of deadly diseases, they ^(FF)will not be mourned or buried; they will be like ^(FG)dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the ^(FH)birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁵For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house of ^(FI)mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have ^(FJ)withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “and My ^(FK)favor and compassion. ⁶Both ^(FL)great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone ^(FM)make cuts on himself or have his head ^(FN)shaved for them. ⁷People will not ^(FO)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. ⁸Moreover, you shall ^(FP)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” ⁹For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^(FQ)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘^(FR)For what reason has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹Then you are to say to them, ‘It is ^(FS)because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed ^(FT)other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law. ¹²You too have done evil, even ^(FU)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^(FV)stubbornness of his own ^(FW)evil heart, without listening to Me. ¹³So I will ^(FX)hurl you off this land to the ^(FY)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will ^(FZ)serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

God Will Restore Them

¹⁴“^(GA)Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^(GB)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the ^(GC)land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, I am going to send for many ^(GD)fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will ^(GE)hunt them ^(GF)from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷^(GG)For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, ^(GH)nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes. ¹⁸I will first repay them ^(GI)double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have ^(GJ)defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their ^(GK)detestable idols and their abominations.”

¹⁹Lord, my ^(GL)strength and my stronghold,
And my ^(GM)refuge in the day of distress,
To You the ^(GN)nations will come
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but ^(GO)falsehood,
Futility, and ^[o]^(GP)things of no benefit.”
²⁰Can a person make gods for himself?
But they are ^(GQ)not gods!

²¹“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—
This time I will ^(GR)make them know
My ^[p]power and My might;
And they will ^(GS)know that My name is the Lord.”