CHAPTER 13
The Lord saith these things to me, Go, and take in possession to thee a linen breech-girdle; and thou shalt put it on thy loins, and thou shalt not bear it into water.
And I took in possession a breech-girdle, by the word of the Lord; and I putted about my loins.
And the word of the Lord was made to me in the second time, and said,
Take the breech-girdle, which thou haddest in possession, which is about thy loins; and rise thou, and go to Euphrates, and hide thou it there, in the hole of a stone.
And I went, and hid it in Euphrates, as the Lord commanded to me.
And it was done after full many days, the Lord said to me, Rise thou, and go to Euphrates, and take from thence the breech-girdle, which I commanded to thee, that thou shouldest hide it there.
And I went to Euphrates, and digged out, and I took the breech-girdle from the place, where I had hid it; and lo! the breech-girdle was rotten, so that it was not able to any use.
And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,
The Lord saith these things, So I shall make rotten the pride of Judah, and the much pride of Jerusalem,
10 and this worst people, that will not hear my words, and go in the shrewdness of their heart; and they went after alien gods, to serve them, and to worship them; and they shall be as this breech-girdle, which is not able to any use.
11 For as a breech-girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so I joined fast to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of Judah, saith the Lord, that they should be to me into a people, and into name, and into praising, and into glory; and they heard not.
12 Therefore thou shalt say to them this word, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Each pottle shall be filled of wine. And they shall say to thee, Whether we know not, that each pottle shall be filled of wine?
13 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall fill with drunkenness all the dwellers of this land, and the kings of the generation of David, that sit on his throne, and the priests, and prophets, and all the dwellers of Jerusalem.
14 And I shall scatter them, a man from his brother, and the fathers and sons together, saith the Lord; I shall not spare, and I shall not grant, neither I shall do mercy, that I lose not them.
15 Hear ye, and perceive with ears; do not ye be raised [up], for the Lord spake.
16 Give ye glory to your Lord God, before that it wax dark, and before that your feet hurt at [the] dark hills; ye shall abide light, and he shall set [or put] it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.
17 That if ye hear not this, my soul shall weep in hid place for the face of pride; it weeping shall weep, and mine eye shall cast out a tear, for the flock of the Lord is taken.
18 Say thou to the king, and to the lady, Be ye meeked, sit ye, for the crown of your glory shall go down from your head.
19 The cities of the south be closed, and none is that openeth; all Judah is translated by perfect passing over, either going out of their land.
20 Raise ye your eyes, and see ye, what men come from the north; where is the flock which is given to thee, thy noble sheep?
21 What shalt thou say, when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and thou hast taught against thine head. Whether sorrows have not taken thee, as a woman travailing of child?
22 That if thou sayest in thine heart, Why came these things to me? for the multitude of thy wickedness thy shamefuller things be showed, thy feet be defouled.
23 If a man of Ethiopia may change his skin, either a leopard may change his diversities, and ye may do well, when ye have learned evil.
24 And I shall sow them abroad, as stubble which is ravished, or taken away, of the wind in desert.
25 This is thy lot, and the part of thy measure of me, saith the Lord; for thou forgettedest me, and trustedest in a leasing.
26 Wherefore and I made naked thine hips against thy face, and thy shame appeared,
27 thine adulteries, and thine neighing, and the felony of thy fornication on little hills in the field; I saw thine abominations. Jerusalem, woe to thee, thou shalt not be cleansed after me till yet.