The linen belt
1The Lord said to me: ‘Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your hips, but don't let the belt get wet.’
2I did what the Lord said. I bought the belt and I put it on. 3Then the Lord said to me: 4‘Take the linen belt that you bought and that you have put on and go to the Perath Valley. Hide the belt there between the rocks.’
5I did what the Lord said. I went to the Perath Valley and I hid the belt between the rocks. 6After a long time the Lord told me: ‘Go to the Perath Valley and get the linen belt that I told you to hide there.’
7I went to the Perath Valley and I dug in the ground and I took out the linen belt from the place where I had hid it. I saw it was ruined, and I could not use it anymore.
8Then the Lord talked to me 9and He said: ‘The people of Judah and the great city of Jerusalem are proud of many things, but I will make all those things go bad and become ruined like the linen belt. 10These people are bad. They do not want to listen to Me, they are stubborn, they do just what they want to do, and they serve other gods and worship_idols. They have become like this linen belt that one can not use. 11People fasten a linen belt around their hips. That is how I have kept the people of Israel and the people of Judah around Me. I tied them to Me because I wanted them to be my people and I wanted to be proud of them, but they did not listen to Me.’
Wine jars
12‘Now you must tell them: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says they must make every wine jar full of wine.” They will tell you they know that every wine jar must be full of wine. 13Then you must tell them the Lord says: “I will make everyone in the land full of wine so that they will become drunk. The king who sits on the throne of David and the priests and prophets and everyone who lives in Jerusalem will also be drunk. 14Then I will make them stumble and fall against each other, even fathers and their children. I will not feel sorry for anyone. I will cause them all to die.” ’ This is what the Lord said.
The people of Jerusalem will not become pure again
15The Lord says: ‘You must obey Me and listen.
Do not be proud,
because I, the Lord, have talked to you.
16You must honour
and praise the Lord your God,
before He makes it dark,
and before you stumble and fall on the mountains
where it is always dark.
You will wait for the light to come
but the Lord will make it darker and darker.
17If you are proud and do not listen,
I will stand where no one can see Me,
and I will cry because you are so proud.
A lot of tears will flow from my eyes
because the enemies have caught
my people and taken them away.
18Someone must tell the king and his mother
to get off their thrones and to sit on the floor
because they will no longer
have beautiful crowns on their heads.
19The enemies have come.
They are around the cities of the Negev
and no one can go out of the city.
The enemies will take
all the people of Judah away.
20People of Jerusalem, if you look
you will see that the enemies
are coming from the north.
Leaders, where are the people of Judah now?
You had to look after the people
like a shepherd cares for
his beautiful flock of sheep and goats.
Where are your people now?
21How will you feel when the enemies
choose some of your friends to rule over you?
You will feel like a woman
who is having a baby and starts to get pains.
22You must ask yourself:
“Why has this happened to me?”
It is because you have done a lot of sins.
That is why you are like women
whose dresses have been taken off
and who have been raped by the enemies.
23Can a man from the land of Cush
change the colour of his skin?
Can a leopard change his spots?
No, they can not change,
and you also can not change yourselves.
You can not start doing good things.
For too long you have done
things that are wrong.
24I will blow you away like
the desert wind blows away chaff.
25This is what will happen to you.
This is what I will do to you,
because you have forgotten Me.
You went to idols, things that are worthless,
and asked them to help you.
26-27You worshipped_idols
on the hills in the field.
I saw the bad things that you did.
You were like women who committed_adultery
and became prostitutes.
That is why I will punish you
like people punish those women,
I will take off all your clothes
so that everyone can see how bad you are.
People of Jerusalem,
you are impure and you will suffer.
How long will it be
before you become pure again?’
