1The LORD said to me, “Go and purchase a linen belt, and put it around your waste, but do not let it touch water.” 2So I bought a belt in accordance with the word of the LORD, and put it around my waste. 3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4“Take the belt that you bought and is around your waste, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6And then, after many days, the LORD told me, “Go to the Euphrates, and get the belt that I told you to hide there.” 7So I went to the Euphrates, dug up, and retrieved the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and, behold, the belt was rotted; it was good for nothing. 8Then the word of the LORD again came to me, 9“Thus says the LORD, ‘In the same manner I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the haughty pride of Jerusalem. 10These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, but pursue their stubborn imagination, serving and worshipping other gods, shall be like this belt, which is good for nothing. 11For just as the belt is bound to the waste of a man, so I have bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘So that they might be My people - My glory, praise, and honor - but they would not hear.”

12“Say to them: ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.” And if they say to you, “Do we not know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?” 13Then tell them, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land - from the kings who sit upon David's throne, to the priests, the prophets, and all who live in Jerusalem - with drunkenness. 14And I will dash them one against another, even parents and children alike’, says the LORD; ‘I will not let pity, mercy, nor compassion keep Me from destroying them.’””

15Hear, and pay attention. Do not be arrogant; for the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD, your God, before He brings darkness, and you stumble upon the dark hills. When you look for light, He will turn it into utter darkness. 17And if you refuse to listen, I (Jeremiah) shall privately weep over your stubborn pride; and my eyes shall run with tears, because the LORD's flock will be carried away captive.

18Say to the king (Jehoiachin) and queen (probably Nehushta, the mother of Jehoiachin), “Humble yourselves, for your crowns of glory shall fall from your heads.” 19The cities of the Negev (south) shall shut their gates, and none shall open them; all of Judah shall be carried away into exile, it shall all be carried away captive. 20Look up and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you (king and queen), your beautiful flock? 21What will you say when the LORD punishes you by taking those that you had relied upon as allies and setting them to rule over you? Will sorrow not grip you like a woman in labor? 22And if you ask yourself, “Why have these things happened to me?”, it is because of all your many grievous sins that you are stripped of your dignity and laid bare. 23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then either can you do good, who are so accustomed to doing evil. 24“I will scatter you like chaff blown away by the desert winds. 25This is your just due, measured by Me as what you deserve,” says the LORD, “Because you have forgotten Me, and trusted in false gods. 26I will pull your skirts up over your face and expose you to shame. 27I have seen your adulteries, your lustful and shameless harlotry, and your abominations on the hills and in the fields. Woe unto you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain polluted and defiled? When and how shall you ever be cleansed?”