Under the figure of a linen girdle is foretold the destruction of the
Jews. Their obstinacy in sin brings all miseries upon them.
13:1. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and
thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.
13:2. And I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it
about my loins.
13:3. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:
13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins,
and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the
rock.
13:5. And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had
commanded me.
13:6. 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 thee to hide there.
13:7. And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out
of the place where I had hid it and behold the girdle was rotten, so
that it was fit for no use.
13:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
13:9. Thus saith the Lord: After this manner will I make the pride of
Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot.
13:10. This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk
in the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to
serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle ,which
is fit for no use.
13:11. For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have
I brought close to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of
Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and
for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
13:12. Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the
Lord the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And
they shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be
filled with wine?
13:13. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will
fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of
David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
13:14. And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers
and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will
not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them.
13:15. Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.
13:16. Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and
before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for
light, and he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.
13:17. But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for
your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down with
tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
13:18. Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down:
for the crown of your glory is come down from your head.
13:19. The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open
them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity.
13:20. Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where
is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle?
13:21. What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast
taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head:
shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?
13:22. And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come
upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is
discovered, the soles of thy feet are defiled.
13:23. If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots:
you also may do well, when you have learned evil.
13:24. And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the
wind in the desert.
13:25. This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith
the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in
falsehood.
13:26. Wherefore I have also bared thy thighs against thy face, and thy
shame hath appeared.
13:27. I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of
thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe
to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?