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Jeremiah 13 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Ruined Loincloth

Jer 13:1Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.”
Jer 13:2So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.
Jer 13:3And the word of the LORD came to me a second time,
Jer 13:4“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
Jer 13:5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
Jer 13:6And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”
Jer 13:7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
Jer 13:8Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Jer 13:9“Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
Jer 13:10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
Jer 13:11For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The Jars Filled with Wine

Jer 13:12“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’
Jer 13:13Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer 13:14And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

Exile Threatened

Jer 13:15Hear and give ear; be not proud,
for the LORD has spoken.
Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God
before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
he turns it into gloom
and makes it deep darkness.
Jer 13:17But if you will not listen,
my soul will 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.
Jer 13:18Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”
Jer 13:19The cities of the Negeb are shut up,
with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.
Jer 13:20“Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?
Jer 13:21What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
like those of a woman in labor?
Jer 13:22And if you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you suffer violence.
Jer 13:23Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.
Jer 13:24I will scatter you[fn] like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.
Jer 13:25This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
Jer 13:26I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.
Jer 13:27I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings,
on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be before you are made clean?”
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Jeremiah Chapter 13 — Additional Translations: