Thus said Jehovah to me, Go and buy yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, but do not put it in water.

So I bought a girdle according to the word of Jehovah and put it upon my loins.

And the word of Jehovah came to me a second time, saying,

Take the girdle which you bought, which is upon your loins, and rise up; go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

And I went and I hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah had commanded Me.

And at the end of many days Jehovah said to me, Rise up; go to the Euphrates, and take from there the girdle which I commanded you to hide there.

And I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it; and there the girdle was, spoiled and good for nothing.

And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Thus says Jehovah, Even so I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will be even like this girdle, which is good for nothing.

For as this girdle clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah to cling to Me, declares Jehovah, that they might be to Me a people and a name and a praise and a glory; but they would not listen.

And you shall speak to them this word, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Every wineskin will be filled with wine. And they will say to you, Do we not know very well that every wineskin will be filled with wine?

Then you shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah, I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land and the kings who sit in David's place on his throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness,

And I will dash them one against the other, both the fathers and the sons together, declares Jehovah; I will not spare or pity or have compassion so as not to destroy them.

Hear and give ear and do not be proud, For Jehovah has spoken.

Give glory to Jehovah your God, Before He brings darkness, And before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains; And you will look for light, But He will turn it into a shadow of death And make it deep darkness.

And if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret places for your pride; And my eye will weep bitterly and shed tears, Because the flock of Jehovah has been taken captive.

Say to the king and to the queen mother, Humble yourselves and sit down, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your heads.

The cities of the south have been shut up, And there is no one to open them; All Judah has been taken into exile, Wholly taken into exile.

Lift up your eyes, And see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, Your beautiful sheep?

What will you say when He appoints over you as head Those whom you yourself have trained to be your friends? Will not pains take hold of you, Like those of a woman in travail?

And if you say in your heart, Why have these things happened to me? It is because of the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are uncovered, That your heels suffer violence.

Can the Cushite change his skin, Or the leopard his spots? Then you also may be able to do good, Who are accustomed to do evil.

Therefore I will scatter them like chaff driven By the wind of the wilderness.

This is your lot, The portion measured out to you from Me, Declares Jehovah, Because you have forgotten Me And have trusted in falsehood.

I will also strip your skirts off over your head, And your shame will be seen.

Your adulteries and your neighings, The lewdness of your fornication Upon the hills, in the field, Your detestable things-I have seen. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long a time will you still not be clean?