1 ¶ The LORD said to me, Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and wrap it around your waist, but do not put it in water.

2 So I got a waistcloth as the LORD told me, and put it around my waist.

3 And the word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

4 Take the waistcloth that you bought, which is around your waist, and go at once to the Euphrates river, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.

5 So I went, and buried it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

6 And after many days, the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and get the waistcloth that I commanded you to hide there.

7 So I went to Euphrates, and dug up the waistcloth, and took it out of the hole where I had hidden it: but it was ruined, and good for nothing.

8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

9 The LORD says, In the same way will I ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 These evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart, and follow other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, will be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing.

11 For as the cloth clings to the waist of a man, I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the LORD; so that they might be my people, have recognition, be praised, and be something beautiful: but they would not listen.

12 ¶ Therefore you will tell them this; The LORD God of Israel says, Every jar should be filled with wine: and when they ask, Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?

13 Say to them, The LORD says, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

14 And I will dash one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the LORD: I will have no pity, sympathy, or mercy, but will destroy them.

15 Listen, and pay attention; do not be proud: for the LORD has spoken.

16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on mountains at dusk, for, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it thick darkness.

17 But if you will not listen, then I will weep secretly because of your pride; and my eyes will cry bitterly, and flow with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, and take a lowly seat: because your beautiful crown will come down from your head.

19 The cities of the south will be closed, and no one will be able to open them: all of Judah will be carried away captive, all of it.

20 Look up, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

21 What will you say when the Lord appoints your allies as leaders over you? men you yourself trained: won’t pain grip you, like a woman in travail?

22 ¶ And when you ask yourself, Why are these things happening to me? It is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been ripped off, and your body ravished.

23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so you might be able to do what is good, you who in whom evil is ingrained.

24 Therefore I will scatter you like chaff driven away by the wind of the desert.

25 This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me, and placed your faith in lies.

26 Therefore will I pull your skirts up over your face, so that your shame may be seen.

27 I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, your lusting after prostitutes, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! how long will it be until you are made clean?