| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." | 1The LORD said to me, "Go and buy some linen shorts and put them on. Do not put them in water." |
| 2So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist. | 2So I bought the shorts as the LORD had told me to do and put them on. |
| 3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: | 3Then the LORD spoke to me again and said, |
| 4"Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." | 4"Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing and go at once to Perath. Bury the shorts there in a crack in the rocks." |
| 5So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me. | 5So I went and buried them at Perath as the LORD had ordered me to do. |
| 6Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there." | 6Many days later the LORD said to me, "Go at once to Perath and get the shorts I ordered you to bury there." |
| 7So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless. | 7So I went to Perath and dug up the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found that they were ruined; they were good for nothing. |
| 8Then the word of the LORD came to me: | 8Then the LORD said to me, |
| 9"This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. | 9"I, the LORD, say: 'This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride. |
| 10These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt--completely useless! | 10These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing. |
| 11For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.' | 11For,' I say, 'just as shorts cling tightly to a person's body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah tightly to me.' I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. But they would not obey me. |
| 12"Say to them: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.' And if they say to you, 'Don't we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?' | 12"So tell them, 'The LORD, the God of Israel, says, "Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine."' And they will probably say to you, 'Do you not think we know that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?' |
| 13then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. | 13Then tell them, 'The LORD says, "I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. I will also fill the kings from David's dynasty, the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. |
| 14I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.'" | 14And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,' says the LORD." |
| 15Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. | 15Then I said to the people of Judah, "Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant! For the LORD has spoken. |
| 16Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom. | 16Show the LORD your God the respect that is due him. Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. Do it before you stumble into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile. |
| 17If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD's flock will be taken captive. | 17But if you will not pay attention to this warning, I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride. I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears because you, the LORD's flock, will be carried into exile." |
| 18Say to the king and to the queen mother, "Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads." | 18The LORD told me, "Tell the king and the queen mother, 'Surrender your thrones, for your glorious crowns will be removed from your heads. |
| 19The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away. | 19The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight. No one will be able to go in or out of them. All Judah will be carried off into exile. They will be completely carried off into exile.'" |
| 20Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted? | 20Then I said, "Look up, Jerusalem, and see the enemy that is coming from the north. Where now is the flock of people that were entrusted to your care? Where now are the 'sheep' that you take such pride in? |
| 21What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor? | 21What will you say when the LORD appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. |
| 22And if you ask yourself, "Why has this happened to me?"-- it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated. | 22You will probably ask yourself, 'Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?' It is because you have sinned so much. |
| 23Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. | 23But there is little hope for you ever doing good, you who are so accustomed to doing evil. Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard remove its spots? |
| 24"I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. | 24"The LORD says, 'That is why I will scatter your people like chaff that is blown away by a desert wind. |
| 25This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. | 25This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods. |
| 26I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen-- | 26So I will pull your skirt up over your face and expose you to shame like a disgraced adulteress! |
| 27your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?" | 27People of Jerusalem, I have seen your adulterous worship, your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. I have seen your disgusting acts of worship on the hills throughout the countryside. You are doomed to destruction! How long will you continue to be unclean?'" |
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