Jeremiah 13-15

New King James Version

Symbol of the Linen Sash

13 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it ^[a]around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I got a ^[b]sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.

³And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, ⁴“Take the ^[c]sash that you acquired, which is ^[d]around your waist, and arise, go to the ^[e]Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the ^[f]sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner ^(A)I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great ^(B)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who ^(C)refuse to hear My words, who ^(D)follow^[g] the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(E)they may become My people, ^(F)for renown, for praise, and for ^(G)glory; but they would ^(H)not hear.’

Symbol of the Wine Bottles

¹²“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’

“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’

¹³“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—^(I)with drunkenness! ¹⁴And ^(J)I will dash them ^[h]one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

Pride Precedes Captivity

¹⁵Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(K)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes ^(L)darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are ^(M)looking for light,
He turns it into ^(N)the shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
¹⁷But if you will not hear it,
My soul will ^(O)weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to ^(P)the king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
¹⁹The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.

²⁰Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the ^(Q)north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not ^(R)pangs seize you,
Like a woman in ^[i]labor?
²²And if you say in your heart,
^(S)“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
^(T)Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels ^[j]made bare.
²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴“Therefore I will ^(U)scatter them ^(V)like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
²⁵^(W)This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in ^(X)falsehood.
²⁶Therefore ^(Y)I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
²⁷I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful ^(Z)neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations ^(AA)on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be made clean?”

Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

²“Judah mourns,
And ^(AB)her gates languish;
They ^(AC)mourn for the land,
And ^(AD)the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
³Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were ^(AE)ashamed and confounded
^(AF)And covered their heads.
⁴Because the ground is parched,
For there was ^(AG)no rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
⁵Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But ^[k]left because there was no grass.
⁶And ^(AH)the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

⁷O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
Do it ^(AI)for Your name’s sake;
For our backslidings are many,
We have sinned against You.
⁸^(AJ)O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,
Why should You be like a stranger in the land,
And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should You be like a man astonished,
Like a mighty one ^(AK)who cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, ^(AL)are in our midst,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people:

^(AM)“Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the Lord does not accept them;
^(AN)He will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins.”

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, ^(AO)“Do not pray for this people, for their good. ¹²^(AP)When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and ^(AQ)when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But ^(AR)I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

¹³^(AS)Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you ^[l]assured ^(AT)peace in this place.’ ”

¹⁴And the Lord said to me, ^(AU)“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. ^(AV)I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, ^[m]divination, a worthless thing, and the ^(AW)deceit of their heart. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, ^(AX)and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; ^(AY)they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

¹⁷“Therefore you shall say this word to them:

^(AZ)‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
^(BA)For the virgin daughter of my people
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
¹⁸If I go out to ^(BB)the field,
Then behold, those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then behold, those sick from famine!
Yes, both prophet and ^(BC)priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”

The People Plead for Mercy

¹⁹^(BD)Have You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that ^(BE)there is no healing for us?
^(BF)We looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
²⁰We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
And the iniquity of our ^(BG)fathers,
For ^(BH)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.
^(BI)Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
²²^(BJ)Are there any among ^(BK)the idols of the nations that can cause ^(BL)rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
^(BM)Are You not He, O Lord our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(BN)“Even if ^(BO)Moses and ^(BP)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[n]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. ²And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(BQ)“Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword;
And such as are for the famine, to the famine;
And such as are for the ^(BR)captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will ^(BS)appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, ^(BT)the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will hand them over to ^(BU)trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of ^(BV)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan you?
Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
⁶^(BW)You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,
“You have ^(BX)gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
^(BY)I am ^[o]weary of relenting!
⁷And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will ^(BZ)bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they ^(CA)do not return from their ways.
⁸Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them,
Against the mother of the young men,
A plunderer at noonday;
I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them ^(CB)suddenly.

⁹“She^(CC) languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
^(CD)Her sun has gone down
While it was yet day;
She has been ashamed and confounded.
And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword
Before their enemies,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Dejection

¹⁰^(CE)Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole ^[p]earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.

¹¹The Lord said:

“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause ^(CF)the enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
¹²Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
¹³Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as ^(CG)plunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
¹⁴And I will ^[q]make you cross over with your enemies
^(CH)Into a land which you do not know;
For a ^(CI)fire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”

¹⁵O Lord, ^(CJ)You know;
Remember me and ^[r]visit me,
And ^(CK)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that ^(CL)for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ^(CM)ate them,
And ^(CN)Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
¹⁷^(CO)I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
For You have filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my ^(CP)pain perpetual
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me ^(CQ)like an unreliable stream,
As waters that ^[s]fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(CR)“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall ^(CS)stand before Me;
If you ^(CT)take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze ^(CU)wall;
And they will fight against you,
But ^(CV)they shall not prevail against you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” says the Lord.
²¹“I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”