1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
2 So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: 4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.
6 Many days later the LORD said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt - completely useless! 11 For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’
12 “Say to them: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13 then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”
15 Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble on the darkening hills.
You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.
17 If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble on the darkening hills.
You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.
17 If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
“Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.
20 Look up and see those who are coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labour?
22 And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” - it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.
23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labour?
22 And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” - it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.
23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.
25 This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the LORD,
“because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen -
25 This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the LORD,
“because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen -
7 your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”
I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”
TODAY IN THE WORD
Studies show that the more senses are involved in learning, the more likely students are to retain what’s being taught. For example, students who memorize the states’ capitals by means of songs and hand motions are better able to recite them later than students who simply use a written list.
Maybe that’s why God commanded Jeremiah to “act out” some parables. The first acted parable used a linen belt, or waist cloth, which was meant to cling to the body and probably covered the entire lower body. This imagery should have reminded onlookers how they were supposed to cling to the Lord their God.
There’s some debate about the location of Perath (v 4). It could have been along the Euphrates River in Babylon, but that would have involved a 500- to 700-mile trip each way for Jeremiah. More likely it was a town near Anathoth that the Lord chose because its name would remind people of Babylon. Its close location would also enable many to observe Jeremiah.
In any event, when the linen rotted, it was ruined and completely useless. This indicated how the nation had ruined itself and its relationship with God and had become useless because of its spiritual adultery.
Following this acted parable, Jeremiah was directed to perform another one. There may have been a popular saying that went something like, “Everyone knows that wine jars are supposed to be filled with wine ... silly!” Instead, the Lord declared that the people would be filled with wine ... not the sweet, new wine they might have imagined, but rather the powerful wine of God’s wrath. The nation would become “drunk,” impaired in their reasoning because of the coming destruction. In their “intoxication” they would end up killing family members, as they were smashed against one another.
APPLY THE WORD
We don’t have to frequent pagan shrines to have our spiritual discernment impaired. Even seemingly harmless things can eventually weaken our spiritual ability to “see” clearly.
