Jeremiah 13 — Septuagint (LXX)

This is what the LORD said to me: Go and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.

So I bought the belt according to the word of the LORD and put it around my waist.

Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time:

Take the belt that you bought, the one around your waist, and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a crevice of the rock.

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

After many days, the LORD said to me: Go to the Euphrates and retrieve the belt I commanded you to hide there.

So I went to the Euphrates, dug, and retrieved the belt from the place where I had hidden it. And there it was — the belt was ruined, good for nothing.

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

This is what the LORD says: In this same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and who have gone after other gods to serve and worship them — they will become like this belt, good for nothing.

For just as a belt clings to a person's waist, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD — to be my people, for a name, for praise, and for glory. But they would not listen.

You shall also speak this word to them: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says — Every jar will be filled with wine. And they will say to you, 'Do we not know perfectly well that every jar will be filled with wine?'

Then say to them: This is what the LORD says — I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land — the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem — with drunkenness.

And I will smash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity, I will not spare, I will not show compassion — I will destroy them.

Hear and give ear — do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken.

Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight. You will hope for light, but he will turn it to deep shadow and make it thick darkness.

But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, for the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

Say to the king and to the queen mother: Come down from your thrones and sit low, for your glorious crown has fallen from your head.

The cities of the Negev are shut up, with no one to open them. All of Judah is carried into exile — completely carried away.

Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you — your beautiful flock?

What will you say when he sets over you as head those you yourself trained as allies? Will not anguish seize you like a woman in labor?

And if you say in your heart, 'Why has this happened to me?' — it is because of the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are stripped away and your body exposed.

Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard its spots? Then perhaps you also could do good — you who are trained in evil.

Therefore I will scatter them like chaff driven by the desert wind.

This is your lot, the portion I have measured out for you, declares the LORD, because you forgot me and trusted in falsehood.

So I myself will strip your skirts over your face, and your shame will be exposed.

Your adulteries, your 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?