The Linen Loincloth
1This is what Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
- JER 13:1[NOTE]A LINEN LOINCLOTH. An undergarment worn close to the body. God wanted His people to cling to Him that closely, 13:11.
2So I bought a loincloth in accordance with the word of Yahweh, and I put it around my waist.
3Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time: 4“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”
5So I went and hid it at Perath, as Yahweh had commanded me.
6Many days later Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go to Perath, and get the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined—of no use at all.
8Then the word of Yahweh came to me: 9“This is what Yahweh says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth—of no use at all.
- JER 13:9[PROPHECY]God would ruin Judah's pride like a rotted linen belt → 2KI 25:9-11
- JER 13:10[DEMONIC]Those who follow other gods are like a ruined belt
11For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares Yahweh, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.
The Wineskins
12Therefore you are to tell them that this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’
And when they reply, ‘Don’t we surely know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13then you are to tell them that this is what Yahweh says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem. 14I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares Yahweh. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Captivity Threatened
15Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant,
for Yahweh has spoken.
16Give glory to Yahweh your God
before He brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the dusky mountains.
You wait for light,
but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
17But if you do not listen,
I will weep in secret because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.
18Say to the king
and to the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”
- JER 13:18[NOTE]SAY TO THE KING. The Hebrew has no quotation marks. The command Say is spoken to one man, Jeremiah, the way God speaks to him all through the book, so the whole verse prints red. The queen mother was probably Nehushta, Jehoiachin's mother, 2 Kings 24:8.
19The cities of the Negev have been shut tight,
and no one can open them.
All Judah has been carried into exile,
wholly taken captive.
20Lift up your eyes and see
those coming from the north.
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
21What will you say when He sets over you
close allies whom you yourself trained?
Will not pangs of anguish grip you,
as they do a woman in labor?
22And if you ask yourself,
“Why has this happened to me?”
It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity
that your skirts have been stripped off
and your body has been exposed.
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots?
Neither are you able to do good—
you who are accustomed to doing evil.
- JER 13:23[NOTE]A LEOPARD'S SPOTS. The saying comes from this verse. People cannot change their own hearts; God has to do it, 24:7 and 31:33.
24“I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the desert wind.
25This is your lot,
the portion I have measured to you,”
declares Yahweh,
“because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood.
26So I will pull your skirts up over your face,
that your shame may be seen.
27Your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution
on the hills and in the fields—
I have seen your detestable acts.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?”
- JER 13:27[DEMONIC]God sees your idol prostitution on the hills