Thus says יהוה to me: Go and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your loins, and do not bring it into water.

So I bought the belt according to the word of יהוה, and put it on my loins.

And the word of יהוה came to me a second time, saying:

Take the belt that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as יהוה commanded me.

And it came to pass after many days, that יהוה said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the belt that I commanded you to hide there.

So I went to the Euphrates, and I dug, and I took the belt from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the belt was ruined; it was not good for anything.

And the word of יהוה came to me, saying:

Thus says יהוה: In this way I will ruin the pride of Yehudah, and the great pride of Yerushalayim.

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other elohim to serve them and to bow down to them—let it be like this belt, which is not good for anything.

For as the belt clings to the loins of a man, so I made all the house of Yisra'el and all the house of Yehudah cling to me, says יהוה, so that they might be to me for a people, and for a name, and for praise, and for glory, but they did not listen.

And you shall say to them, Thus says יהוה, the Elohim of Yisra'el: Every jar shall be filled with wine, and they will say to you, Do we not know that every jar shall be filled with wine?

Then you shall say to them, Thus says יהוה: Behold, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, with drunkenness.

And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons, together, says יהוה. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, so as not to destroy them.

Hear and listen; do not be arrogant, for יהוה has spoken.

Give glory to יהוה your Elohim before he darkens, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and you look for light, but he turns it into deep darkness and gloom.

But if you do not listen, in secret my soul will weep because of pride, and tears will stream down, and my eye will shed tears, because the flock of יהוה has been carried away.

Say to the king and to the queen mother: Humble yourselves, sit down, for the diadem of your glory has come down from your heads.

The cities of the Negev are shut, and there is no one to open them. All of Yehudah has been exiled; they have been exiled completely.

Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say when he visits you? You have taught them to be leaders over you. Will not pains seize you, like the pains of a woman giving birth?

And if you say in your heart, Why have these things happened to me? Because of the abundance of your iniquity, your skirts have been uncovered, your heels have been violated.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good, you who are accustomed to evil.

So I will scatter them like chaff blown by the wind of the desert.

This is your lot, the portion measured out to you from me, says יהוה, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

So I will also uncover your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

Your adulteries, your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution—I have seen your detestable things on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Yerushalayim! You will not be made clean; how much longer will it be?