Jeremiah 13

1Yahweh said this to me, “Go and buy a linen undergarment and put it on around your waist, but do not put it in water first.” 2So I bought an undergarment as Yahweh directed, and I put in on around my waist. 3Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, 4“Take the undergarment that you purchased that is around your waist, get up and go now to Perath. Hide it there in a rock crevice.” Some transate Perath as the Euphrates . 5So I went and hid it in Perath, just as Yahweh had commanded me. 6After many days, Yahweh said to me, “Get up and go back to Perath. Take from there the undergarment that I had told you to hide.” 7So I went back to Perath and dug out the undergarment where I had hid it, and behold, it was destroyed and completely useless. Some transate Perath as the Euphrates . 8Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9“Yahweh says this: In the same way I will destroy the great arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. 10This wicked people who refuses to listen to my word, who walk in the hardness of their heart, who go after other gods to worship them and bow down to them—they will be like this undergarment that is good for nothing. 11For just as an undergarment clings to someone's hips, so I have made all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah cling to me—this is Yahweh's declaration—to be my people, to bring me fame, praise, and honor. But they would not listen to me. 12So you must speak this word to them, 'Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: Every jar will be filled with wine.' They will say to you, 'Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?' 13So say to them, 'Yahweh says this: See, I am about to fill with drunkenness every inhabitant of this land, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 14Then I will smash each man against the other, fathers and children together—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will not pity them or have compassion, and I will not spare them from destruction.'” 15Listen and pay attention. Do not be arrogant, for Yahweh had spoken. 16Give honor to Yahweh your God before he brings darkness, 17So if you will not listen, I will weep alone because of your arrogance. 18“Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Come down from your thrones, 19The cities in the Negev will be shut up, with no one to open them. All Judah will be taken captive, completely taken captive. 20Lift up your eyes and look at the ones coming from the north. 21What will you say when God sets over you those you had trained to be your special allies? 22Then you might say in your heart, 'Why are these things happening to me?' 23Can the people of Cush change their skin color, or a leopard change its spots? 24So I will scatter them like chaff that perishes in the desert wind. 25This is what I have given to you, the portion I have decreed for you—this is Yahweh's declaration— 26So also I myself will strip your skirts off you, and your private parts will be seen.