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¹ THUS says the LORD unto me, Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water.² So I bought a girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.³ And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying,⁴ Take the girdle which you have bought, and which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates and bury it there in a hole of the rock.⁵ So I went and buried it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.⁶ And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from thence the girdle which I commanded you to bury there.⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had buried it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted and was good for nothing.⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,⁹ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: In this manner will I destroy the proud men of Judah and the proud men of Jerusalem that are many.¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall be even as this girdle which is good for nothing.¹¹ For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says the LORD; that they might be to me for a people and for a name and for a praise and for a glory; but they would not hearken.

¹² Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Every wineskin shall be filled with wine; and they shall say to you, Do we not know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?¹³ Then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon Davids throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.¹⁴ And I will scatter them and separate them every man from his brother, even fathers and their children together, says the LORD; I will not pity, nor have mercy, nor spare, but destroy them.¹⁵ Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken.¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before it becomes dark, and before your feet are injured upon the mountains in the darkness, and, while you look for light, he turns it into darkness and the shadows of death.¹⁷ But if you will not hearken to him, then my soul shall weep in secret because of distress; and I will weep bitterly, and tears shall run down from my eyes because the LORDS flock is carried away captive.¹⁸ Say to the king and to the princes, Humble yourselves and repent, for the crown of your glory has fallen from your heads.¹⁹ The cities of the south are shut up, and there is no one to open them; Judah is carried away captive, yea, is wholly carried away captive.²⁰ Lift up your eyes and see those that come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?²¹ What will you say when he shall punish you? For you have taught the people a doctrine which has caused them to be trodden under foot; behold, you shall be seized with pain as a woman in travail.

²² And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come upon me? For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered and your heels made bare.²³ Just as a Hindu cannot change his skin or a leopard his spots, you also cannot do good because you are accustomed to do evil.²⁴ Therefore I will scatter them like the stubble driven by the wind in the wilderness.²⁵ This is your lot, the portion of your inheritance from me, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.²⁶ Therefore I also will cause your skirts to be uncovered and lifted over your face, and your shame shall be seen.²⁷ I have seen your adulteries and your lusts, the lewdness of your whoredom and your abominations on the hills in the wilderness. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! for you are unwilling to be cleansed. How long will it be till you repent?