A Linen Belt

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:(A) “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath[a](B) and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.(C)

Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride(D) of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen(E) to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts(F) and go after other gods(G) to serve and worship them,(H) will be like this belt—completely useless!(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 13:4 Or possibly to the Euphrates; similarly in verses 5-7

12 “But when the seventy years(A) are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon(B) and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,[a] for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate(C) forever. 13 I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written(D) in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved(E) by many nations(F) and great kings; I will repay(G) them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup(H) filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send(I) you drink it. 16 When they drink(J) it, they will stagger(K) and go mad(L) because of the sword(M) I will send among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent(N) me drink it: 18 Jerusalem(O) and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin(P) and an object of horror and scorn,(Q) a curse[b](R)—as they are today;(S) 19 Pharaoh king(T) of Egypt,(U) his attendants, his officials and all his people, 20 and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz;(V) all the kings of the Philistines(W) (those of Ashkelon,(X) Gaza,(Y) Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 21 Edom,(Z) Moab(AA) and Ammon;(AB) 22 all the kings of Tyre(AC) and Sidon;(AD) the kings of the coastlands(AE) across the sea; 23 Dedan,(AF) Tema,(AG) Buz(AH) and all who are in distant places[c];(AI) 24 all the kings of Arabia(AJ) and all the kings of the foreign people(AK) who live in the wilderness; 25 all the kings of Zimri,(AL) Elam(AM) and Media;(AN) 26 and all the kings of the north,(AO) near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms(AP) on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak[d](AQ) will drink it too.

27 “Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk(AR) and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword(AS) I will send among you.’ 28 But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink(AT), tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! 29 See, I am beginning to bring disaster(AU) on the city that bears my Name,(AV) and will you indeed go unpunished?(AW) You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword(AX) on all(AY) who live on the earth,(AZ) declares the Lord Almighty.’

30 “Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them:

“‘The Lord will roar(BA) from on high;
    he will thunder(BB) from his holy dwelling(BC)
    and roar mightily against his land.
He will shout like those who tread(BD) the grapes,
    shout against all who live on the earth.
31 The tumult(BE) will resound to the ends of the earth,
    for the Lord will bring charges(BF) against the nations;
he will bring judgment(BG) on all(BH) mankind
    and put the wicked to the sword,(BI)’”
declares the Lord.

32 This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Look! Disaster(BJ) is spreading
    from nation to nation;(BK)
a mighty storm(BL) is rising
    from the ends of the earth.”(BM)

33 At that time those slain(BN) by the Lord will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered(BO) up or buried,(BP) but will be like dung lying on the ground.

34 Weep and wail, you shepherds;(BQ)
    roll(BR) in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
For your time to be slaughtered(BS) has come;
    you will fall like the best of the rams.[e](BT)
35 The shepherds will have nowhere to flee,
    the leaders of the flock no place to escape.(BU)
36 Hear the cry(BV) of the shepherds,(BW)
    the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
    for the Lord is destroying their pasture.
37 The peaceful meadows will be laid waste
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 Like a lion(BX) he will leave his lair,
    and their land will become desolate(BY)
because of the sword[f] of the oppressor(BZ)
    and because of the Lord’s fierce anger.(CA)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 25:12 Or Chaldeans
  2. Jeremiah 25:18 That is, their names to be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, to be seen by others as cursed
  3. Jeremiah 25:23 Or who clip the hair by their foreheads
  4. Jeremiah 25:26 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
  5. Jeremiah 25:34 Septuagint; Hebrew fall and be shattered like fine pottery
  6. Jeremiah 25:38 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (see also 46:16 and 50:16); most Hebrew manuscripts anger

Hosea’s Wife and Children

When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous(A) woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness(B) to the Lord.” So he married Gomer(C) daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel,(D) because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.(E)

Gomer(F) conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),(G) for I will no longer show love to Israel,(H) that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,(I) sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God,(J) will save them.”

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,(K) Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.[a](L)

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted.(M) In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’(N) 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together;(O) they will appoint one leader(P) and will come up out of the land,(Q) for great will be the day of Jezreel.[b](R)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 1:9 Or your I am
  2. Hosea 1:11 In Hebrew texts 1:10,11 is numbered 2:1,2.

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