Jeremiah 13

New King James Version

Symbol of the Linen Sash

13 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it ^[a]around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I got a ^[b]sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.

³And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, ⁴“Take the ^[c]sash that you acquired, which is ^[d]around your waist, and arise, go to the ^[e]Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the ^[f]sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner ^(A)I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great ^(B)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who ^(C)refuse to hear My words, who ^(D)follow^[g] the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹For as the sash 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,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(E)they may become My people, ^(F)for renown, for praise, and for ^(G)glory; but they would ^(H)not hear.’

Symbol of the Wine Bottles

¹²“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’

“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’

¹³“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—^(I)with drunkenness! ¹⁴And ^(J)I will dash them ^[h]one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

Pride Precedes Captivity

¹⁵Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(K)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes ^(L)darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are ^(M)looking for light,
He turns it into ^(N)the shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
¹⁷But if you will not hear it,
My soul will ^(O)weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to ^(P)the king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
¹⁹The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.

²⁰Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the ^(Q)north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not ^(R)pangs seize you,
Like a woman in ^[i]labor?
²²And if you say in your heart,
^(S)“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
^(T)Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels ^[j]made bare.
²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴“Therefore I will ^(U)scatter them ^(V)like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
²⁵^(W)This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in ^(X)falsehood.
²⁶Therefore ^(Y)I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
²⁷I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful ^(Z)neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations ^(AA)on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be made clean?”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 13:1 Lit. upon your loins
Jeremiah 13:2 waistband
Jeremiah 13:4 waistband
Jeremiah 13:4 Lit. upon your loins
Jeremiah 13:4 Heb. Perath
Jeremiah 13:7 waistband
Jeremiah 13:10 walk in the stubbornness or imagination
Jeremiah 13:14 Lit. a man against his brother
Jeremiah 13:21 childbirth
Jeremiah 13:22 Lit. suffer violence

Jeremiah 22

New King James Version

Prophecies Against the Kings of Judah

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, ²and say, ^(A)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates! ³Thus says the Lord: ^(B)“Execute^[a] judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the ^(C)fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you indeed do this thing, ^(D)then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. ⁵But if you will not ^[b]hear these words, ^(E)I swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”

⁶For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah:

“You are ^(F)Gilead to Me,
The head of Lebanon;
Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,
Cities which are not inhabited.
⁷I will prepare destroyers against you,
Everyone with his weapons;
They shall cut down ^(G)your choice cedars
^(H)And cast them into the fire.

⁸And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ^(I)‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ ⁹Then they will answer, ^(J)‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”

¹⁰Weep not for ^(K)the dead, nor bemoan him;
Weep bitterly for him ^(L)who goes away,
For he shall return no more,
Nor see his native country.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

¹¹For thus says the Lord concerning ^(M)Shallum^[c] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, ^(N)who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore, ¹²but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

¹³“Woe^(O) to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his ^[d]chambers by injustice,
^(P)Who uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
¹⁴Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious ^[e]chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.’

¹⁵“Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then ^(Q)it was well with him.
¹⁶He ^[f]judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.
¹⁷“Yet^(R) your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^(S)“They shall not lament for him,
Saying, ^(T)‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’
They shall not lament for him,
Saying, ‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his glory!’
¹⁹^(U)He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,
Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.
²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity,
But you said, ‘I will not hear.’
^(V)This has been your manner from your youth,
That you did not obey My voice.
²²The wind shall eat up all ^(W)your ^[g]rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
²³O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like ^(X)the pain of a woman in ^[h]labor?

Message to Coniah

²⁴“As I live,” says the Lord, ^(Y)“though ^[i]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, ^(Z)were the ^[j]signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; ²⁵^(AA)and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the ^[k]Chaldeans. ²⁶^(AB)So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. ²⁷But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.

²⁸“Is this man ^[l]Coniah a despised, broken idol—
^(AC)A vessel in which is no pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
²⁹^(AD)O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of the Lord!
³⁰Thus says the Lord:
‘Write this man down as ^(AE)childless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For ^(AF)none of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”