¹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a flax belt and put it around your waist, and do not put it in water.” ²So I got the belt according to the word of the Lord, and I put it around my waist. ³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time and said, ⁴“Take the belt which you have got, which is around your waist, and get up and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft in the rock.” ⁵So I went and I hid it in the Euphrates region, as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶And it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Get up and go to the Euphrates, and take from there the belt which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷So I went to the Euphrates, and I dug up and took the belt out from the place where I had hidden it, and I saw that the belt was ruined; it was not fit for anything. ⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me and said, ⁹“This is what the Lord says: ‘Similarly, I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people which refuses to heed my words, who walk in the obstinacy of their heart and who walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, will be like this belt, which is not fit for anything. ¹¹For as a belt clings to a man's waist, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord, to be a people to me, and for fame and a reason for praise and for splendour, but they did not pay heed.’ ¹²Now you will say these words to them: ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: «Every skin-bottle will be filled with wine.» ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not know full well that every skin-bottle will be filled with wine?’ ¹³Then you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: «I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings in the line of David who have sat on his throne, and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with intoxication. ¹⁴And I will dash them – a man against his brother, and fathers and sons together – says the Lord; I will not have compassion, and I will not spare, and I will not show mercy in bringing them to ruin.» ’ ”

¹⁵Hear and listen;

Do not be high-minded,

For the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶Give the Lord your God honour

Before he brings darkness,

And before your feet strike the mountains in the darkness,

And, when you await light,

He makes it a shadow of death,

And he turns it into sombre gloom.

¹⁷And if you do not heed it,

My inner being will weep in secret places

Because of your arrogance.

My eye will weep bitterly

And run with tears,

For the Lord's flock will have been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and to the queen consort,

“Take a lower seat,

For your head-end has come down

– The crown of your splendour.

¹⁹The cities of the south will be shut,

And there will be no-one opening them up.

All of Judah will be exiled;

It will be completely exiled.

²⁰Lift up your eyes

And see those coming from the north.

Where is the flock which was given to you?

– Your splendid sheep?

²¹What will you say when he visits you?

For you taught them,

And they will be over you as masters,

And they will become your head.

Will not birth pangs seize you,

As of a woman in labour?

²²And if you say in your heart,

‘Why have these things happened to me?’

It is for your great iniquity

That the train of your skirt is uncovered,

And your heels are violated.

²³Can an Ethiopian change his skin,

Or a leopard his spots?

If so then you too can do good,

You who are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴And I will scatter them

Like chaff passing by in a wind from the desert.

²⁵This is your lot,

A portion from me to be meted out to you,

Says the Lord,

Because you have forgotten me,

And you have trusted in a lie.

²⁶So I for my part

Will uncover the train of your skirt

Up to your face

So that your shame is seen.

²⁷I have seen your adulteries and your neighings

And the depravity of your prostitution on hills in the countryside

– Your abominations.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

Will you not become clean?

After how long, still?”