Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Jeremiah 13:1 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Jer 13:1	Strong Concordance	Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] unto me, Go [01980] and get [07069] thee a linen [06593] girdle [0232], and put [07760] it upon thy loins [04975], and put [0935] it not in water [04325].
	King James	Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
SYMBOLICAL PROPHECY (Jer 13:1-7). (Jer. 13:1-27) put it upon thy loins, &c.--expressing the close intimacy wherewith Jehovah had joined Israel and Judah to Him (Jer 13:11). linen--implying it was the inner garment next the skin, not the outer one. put it not in water--signifying the moral filth of His people, like the literal filth of a garment worn constantly next the skin, without being washed (Jer 13:10). GROTIUS understands a garment not bleached, but left in its native roughness, just as Judah had no beauty, but was adopted by the sole grace of God (Eze 16:4-6). "Neither wast thou washed in water," &c.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

SYMBOLICAL PROPHECY (Jer 13:1-7). (Jer. 13:1-27)

put it upon thy loins, &c.--expressing the close intimacy wherewith Jehovah had joined Israel and Judah to Him (Jer 13:11).

linen--implying it was the inner garment next the skin, not the outer one.

put it not in water--signifying the moral filth of His people, like the literal filth of a garment worn constantly next the skin, without being washed (Jer 13:10). GROTIUS understands a garment not bleached, but left in its native roughness, just as Judah had no beauty, but was adopted by the sole grace of God (Eze 16:4-6). "Neither wast thou washed in water," &c.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
A linen girdle - The appointed dress of the priestly order (Lev 16:4, ...). Put it not in water - i. e., do not wash it, and so let it represent the deep-grained pollution of the people.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The spoilt girdle. - Jer 13:1. "Thus spake Jahveh unto me: Go and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, but into the water thou shalt not bring it. Jer 13:2. So I bought the girdle, according to the word of Jahveh, and put it upon my loins, Jer 13:3. Then came the word of Jahveh to me the second time, saying: Jer 13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. Jer 13:5. So I went and hid it, as Jahveh had commanded me. Jer 13:6. And it came to pass after many days, that Jahveh said unto me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and bring thence the girdle which I commanded thee to hide there. Jer 13:7. And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was marred, was good for nothing. Jer 13:8. And the word of Jahveh came to me, saying: Jer 13:9. Thus hath Jahveh said, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. Jer 13:10. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, it shall be as this girdle which is good for nothing. Jer 13:11. For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jahveh; that it might be to me for a people and for a name, for a praise and for an ornament; but they hearkened not." With regard to the symbolical action imposed on the prophet and performed by him, the question arises, whether the thing took place in outward reality, or was only an occurrence in the spirit, in the inward vision. The first view seems to be supported by the wording of the passage, namely, the twice repeated account of the prophet's journey to the Phrat on the strength of a twice repeated divine command. But on the other hand, it has been found very improbable that "Jeremiah should twice have made a journey to the Euphrates, merely to prove that a linen girdle, if it lie long in the damp, becomes spoilt, a thing he could have done much nearer home, and which besides everybody knew without experiment" (Graf.). On this ground Ros., Graf, etc., hold the matter for a parable or an allegorical tale, But this view depends for support on the erroneous assumption that the specification of the Euphrates is of no kind of importance for the matter in hand; whereas the contrary may be gathered from the four times repeated mention of the place. Nor is anything proved against the real performance of God's command by the remark, that the journey thither and back on both occasions is spoken of as if it were a mere matter of crossing a field. The Bible writers are wont to set forth such external matters in no very circumstantial way. And the great distance of the Euphrates - about 250 miles - gives us no sufficient reason for departing from the narrative as we have it before us, pointing as it does to a literal and real carrying out of God's command, and to relegate the matter to the inward region of spiritual vision, or to take the narrative for an allegorical tale. - Still less reason is to be found in arbitrary interpretations of the name, such as, after Bochart's example, have been attempted by Ven., Hitz., and Ew. The assertion that the Euphrates is called נהר פּרת everywhere else, including Jer 46:2, Jer 46:6,Jer 46:10, loses its claim to conclusiveness from the fact that the prefaced rhn is omitted in Gen 2:14; Jer 51:63. And even Ew. observes, that "fifty years later a prophet understood the word of the Euphrates at Jer 51:63." Now even if Jer 51:63 had been written by another prophet, and fifty years later (which is not the case, see on Jer 50ff.), the authority of this prophet would suffice to prove every other interpretation erroneous; even although the other attempts at interpretation had been more than the merest fancies. Ew. remarks, "It is most amazing that recent scholars (Hitz. with Ven. and Dahl.) could seriously come to adopt the conceit that פּרת is one and the same with אפּרת (Gen 48:7), and so with Bethlehem;" and what he says is doubly relevant to his own rendering. פּרת, he says, is either to be understood like Arab. frt, of fresh water in general, or like frdt, a place near the water, a crevice opening from the water into the land - interpretations so far fetched as to require no serious refutation. More important than the question as to the formal nature of the emblematical action is that regarding its meaning; on which the views of commentators are as much divided. from the interpretation in Jer 13:9-11 thus much is clear, that the girdle is the emblem of Israel, and that the prophet, in putting on and wearing this girdle, illustrates the relation of God to the folk of His covenant (Israel and Judah). The further significance of the emblem is suggested by the several moments of the action. The girdle does not merely belong to a man's adornment, but is that part of his clothing which he must put on when about to undertake any laborious piece of work. The prophet is to buy and put on a linen girdle. פּשׁתּים, linen, was the material of the priests' raiment, Eze 44:17., which in Exo 28:40; Exo 39:27. is called שׁשׁ, white byssus, or בּד, linen. The priest's girdle was not, however, white, but woven parti-coloured, after the four colours of the curtains of the sanctuary, Exo 28:40; Exo 39:29. Wool (צמר) is in Eze 44:18 expressly excluded, because it causes the body to sweat. The linen girdle points, therefore, to the priestly character of Israel, called to be a holy people, a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6). "The purchased white girdle of linen, a man's pride and adornment, is the people bought out of Egypt, yet in its innocence as it was when the Lord bound it to Himself with the bands of love" (Umbr.). The prohibition that follows, "into water thou shalt not bring it," is variously interpreted. Chr. B. Mich. says: forte ne madefiat et facilius dein computrescat; to the same effect Dahl., Ew., Umbr., Graf: to keep it safe from the hurtful effects of damp. A view which refutes itself; since washing does no kind of harm to the linen girdle, but rather makes it again as good as new. Thus to the point writes Ng., remarking justly at the same time, that the command not to bring the girdle into the water plainly implies that the prophet would have washed it when it had become soiled. This was not to be. The girdle was to remain dirty, and as such to be carried to the Euphrates, in order that, as Ros. and Maur. observed, it might symbolize sordes quas contraxerit populus in dies majores, mores populi magis magisque lapsi, and that the carrying of the soiled girdle to the Euphrates might set forth before the eyes of the people what awaited it, after it had long been borne by God covered with the filth of its sins. - The just appreciation of this prohibition leads us easily to the true meaning of the command in Jer 13:4, to bring the girdle that was on his loins to the Euphrates, and there to conceal it in a cleft in the rock, where it decays. But it is signifies, as Chr. B. Mich., following Jerome, observes, populi Judaici apud Chaldaeos citra Euphratem captivitas et exilium. Graf has objected: "The corruptness of Israel was not a consequence of the Babylonish captivity; the latter, indeed, came about in consequence of the existing corruptness." But this objection stands and falls with the amphibolia of the word corruptness, decay. Israel was, indeed, morally decayed before the exile; but the mouldering of the girdle in the earth by the Euphrates signifies not the moral but the physical decay of the covenant people, which, again, was a result of the moral decay of the period during which God had, in His long-suffering, borne the people notwithstanding their sins. Wholly erroneous is the view adopted by Gr. from Umbr.: the girdle decayed by the water is the sin-stained people which, intriguing with the foreign gods, had in its pride cast itself loose from its God, and had for long imagined itself secure under the protection of the gods of Chaldea. The hiding of the girdle in the crevice of a rock by the banks of the Euphrates would have been the most unsuitable emblem conceivable for representing the moral corruption of the people. Had the girdle, which God makes to decay by the Euphrates, loosed itself from him and imagined it could conceal itself in a foreign land? as Umbr. puts the case. According to the declaration, Jer 13:9, God will mar the great pride of Judah and Jerusalem, even as the girdle had been marred, which had at His command been carried to the Euphrates and hid there. The carrying of the girdle to the Euphrates is an act proceeding from God, by which Israel is marred; the intriguing of Israel with strange gods in the land of Canaan was an act of Israel's own, against the will of God. Jer 13:6-11 After the course of many days - these are the seventy years of the captivity - the prophet is to fetch the girdle again. He went, digged (חפר, whence we see that the hiding in the cleft of the rock was a burying in the rocky soil of the Euphrates bank), and found the girdle marred, fit for nothing. These words correspond to the effect which the exile was designed to have, which it has had, on the wicked, idolatrous race. The ungodly should as Moses' law, Lev 26:36, Lev 26:39, declared, perish in the land of their enemies; the land of their enemies will devour them, and they that remain shall pine or moulder away in their iniquities and in the iniquities of their fathers. This mouldering (ימּקּוּ) is well reproduced in the marring (נשׁחת) of the girdle. It is no contradiction to this, that a part of the people will be rescued from the captivity and brought back to the land of their fathers. For although the girdle which the prophet had put on his loins symbolized the people at large, yet the decay of the same at the Euphrates sets forth only the physical decay of the ungodly part of the people, as Jer 13:10 intimates in clear words: "This evil people that refuses to hear the word of the Lord, etc., shall be as this girdle." The Lord will mar the גּאון of Judah and Jerusalem. The word means highness in both a good and in an evil sense, glory and self-glory. Here it is used with the latter force. This is shown both by the context, and by a comparison of the passage Lev 26:19, that God will break the נּאון of the people by sore judgments, which is the foundation of the present Jer 13:9. - In Jer 13:11 the meaning of the girdle is given, in order to explain the threatening in Jer 13:9 and Jer 13:10. As the girdle lies on the loins of a man, so the Lord hath laid Israel on Himself, that it may be to Him for a people and for a praise, for a glory and an adornment, inasmuch as He designed to set it above all other nations and to make it very glorious; cf. Deu 26:19, whither these words point back.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The spoilt girdle. - Jer 13:1. "Thus spake Jahveh unto me: Go and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, but into the water thou shalt not bring it. Jer 13:2. So I bought the girdle, according to the word of Jahveh, and put it upon my loins, Jer 13:3. Then came the word of Jahveh to me the second time, saying: Jer 13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. Jer 13:5. So I went and hid it, as Jahveh had commanded me. Jer 13:6. And it came to pass after many days, that Jahveh said unto me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and bring thence the girdle which I commanded thee to hide there. Jer 13:7. And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was marred, was good for nothing. Jer 13:8. And the word of Jahveh came to me, saying: Jer 13:9. Thus hath Jahveh said, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. Jer 13:10. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, it shall be as this girdle which is good for nothing. Jer 13:11. For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jahveh; that it might be to me for a people and for a name, for a praise and for an ornament; but they hearkened not."

With regard to the symbolical action imposed on the prophet and performed by him, the question arises, whether the thing took place in outward reality, or was only an occurrence in the spirit, in the inward vision. The first view seems to be supported by the wording of the passage, namely, the twice repeated account of the prophet's journey to the Phrat on the strength of a twice repeated divine command. But on the other hand, it has been found very improbable that "Jeremiah should twice have made a journey to the Euphrates, merely to prove that a linen girdle, if it lie long in the damp, becomes spoilt, a thing he could have done much nearer home, and which besides everybody knew without experiment" (Graf.). On this ground Ros., Graf, etc., hold the matter for a parable or an allegorical tale, But this view depends for support on the erroneous assumption that the specification of the Euphrates is of no kind of importance for the matter in hand; whereas the contrary may be gathered from the four times repeated mention of the place. Nor is anything proved against the real performance of God's command by the remark, that the journey thither and back on both occasions is spoken of as if it were a mere matter of crossing a field. The Bible writers are wont to set forth such external matters in no very circumstantial way. And the great distance of the Euphrates - about 250 miles - gives us no sufficient reason for departing from the narrative as we have it before us, pointing as it does to a literal and real carrying out of God's command, and to relegate the matter to the inward region of spiritual vision, or to take the narrative for an allegorical tale. - Still less reason is to be found in arbitrary interpretations of the name, such as, after Bochart's example, have been attempted by Ven., Hitz., and Ew. The assertion that the Euphrates is called נהר פּרת everywhere else, including Jer 46:2, Jer 46:6,Jer 46:10, loses its claim to conclusiveness from the fact that the prefaced rhn is omitted in Gen 2:14; Jer 51:63. And even Ew. observes, that "fifty years later a prophet understood the word of the Euphrates at Jer 51:63." Now even if Jer 51:63 had been written by another prophet, and fifty years later (which is not the case, see on Jer 50ff.), the authority of this prophet would suffice to prove every other interpretation erroneous; even although the other attempts at interpretation had been more than the merest fancies. Ew. remarks, "It is most amazing that recent scholars (Hitz. with Ven. and Dahl.) could seriously come to adopt the conceit that פּרת is one and the same with אפּרת (Gen 48:7), and so with Bethlehem;" and what he says is doubly relevant to his own rendering. פּרת, he says, is either to be understood like Arab. frt, of fresh water in general, or like frdt, a place near the water, a crevice opening from the water into the land - interpretations so far fetched as to require no serious refutation.

More important than the question as to the formal nature of the emblematical action is that regarding its meaning; on which the views of commentators are as much divided. from the interpretation in Jer 13:9-11 thus much is clear, that the girdle is the emblem of Israel, and that the prophet, in putting on and wearing this girdle, illustrates the relation of God to the folk of His covenant (Israel and Judah). The further significance of the emblem is suggested by the several moments of the action. The girdle does not merely belong to a man's adornment, but is that part of his clothing which he must put on when about to undertake any laborious piece of work. The prophet is to buy and put on a linen girdle. פּשׁתּים, linen, was the material of the priests' raiment, Eze 44:17., which in Exo 28:40; Exo 39:27. is called שׁשׁ, white byssus, or בּד, linen. The priest's girdle was not, however, white, but woven parti-coloured, after the four colours of the curtains of the sanctuary, Exo 28:40; Exo 39:29. Wool (צמר) is in Eze 44:18 expressly excluded, because it causes the body to sweat. The linen girdle points, therefore, to the priestly character of Israel, called to be a holy people, a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6). "The purchased white girdle of linen, a man's pride and adornment, is the people bought out of Egypt, yet in its innocence as it was when the Lord bound it to Himself with the bands of love" (Umbr.). The prohibition that follows, "into water thou shalt not bring it," is variously interpreted. Chr. B. Mich. says: forte ne madefiat et facilius dein computrescat; to the same effect Dahl., Ew., Umbr., Graf: to keep it safe from the hurtful effects of damp. A view which refutes itself; since washing does no kind of harm to the linen girdle, but rather makes it again as good as new. Thus to the point writes Ng., remarking justly at the same time, that the command not to bring the girdle into the water plainly implies that the prophet would have washed it when it had become soiled. This was not to be. The girdle was to remain dirty, and as such to be carried to the Euphrates, in order that, as Ros. and Maur. observed, it might symbolize sordes quas contraxerit populus in dies majores, mores populi magis magisque lapsi, and that the carrying of the soiled girdle to the Euphrates might set forth before the eyes of the people what awaited it, after it had long been borne by God covered with the filth of its sins. - The just appreciation of this prohibition leads us easily to the true meaning of the command in Jer 13:4, to bring the girdle that was on his loins to the Euphrates, and there to conceal it in a cleft in the rock, where it decays. But it is signifies, as Chr. B. Mich., following Jerome, observes, populi Judaici apud Chaldaeos citra Euphratem captivitas et exilium. Graf has objected: "The corruptness of Israel was not a consequence of the Babylonish captivity; the latter, indeed, came about in consequence of the existing corruptness." But this objection stands and falls with the amphibolia of the word corruptness, decay. Israel was, indeed, morally decayed before the exile; but the mouldering of the girdle in the earth by the Euphrates signifies not the moral but the physical decay of the covenant people, which, again, was a result of the moral decay of the period during which God had, in His long-suffering, borne the people notwithstanding their sins. Wholly erroneous is the view adopted by Gr. from Umbr.: the girdle decayed by the water is the sin-stained people which, intriguing with the foreign gods, had in its pride cast itself loose from its God, and had for long imagined itself secure under the protection of the gods of Chaldea. The hiding of the girdle in the crevice of a rock by the banks of the Euphrates would have been the most unsuitable emblem conceivable for representing the moral corruption of the people. Had the girdle, which God makes to decay by the Euphrates, loosed itself from him and imagined it could conceal itself in a foreign land? as Umbr. puts the case. According to the declaration, Jer 13:9, God will mar the great pride of Judah and Jerusalem, even as the girdle had been marred, which had at His command been carried to the Euphrates and hid there. The carrying of the girdle to the Euphrates is an act proceeding from God, by which Israel is marred; the intriguing of Israel with strange gods in the land of Canaan was an act of Israel's own, against the will of God.

Jer 13:6-11

After the course of many days - these are the seventy years of the captivity - the prophet is to fetch the girdle again. He went, digged (חפר, whence we see that the hiding in the cleft of the rock was a burying in the rocky soil of the Euphrates bank), and found the girdle marred, fit for nothing. These words correspond to the effect which the exile was designed to have, which it has had, on the wicked, idolatrous race. The ungodly should as Moses' law, Lev 26:36, Lev 26:39, declared, perish in the land of their enemies; the land of their enemies will devour them, and they that remain shall pine or moulder away in their iniquities and in the iniquities of their fathers. This mouldering (ימּקּוּ) is well reproduced in the marring (נשׁחת) of the girdle. It is no contradiction to this, that a part of the people will be rescued from the captivity and brought back to the land of their fathers. For although the girdle which the prophet had put on his loins symbolized the people at large, yet the decay of the same at the Euphrates sets forth only the physical decay of the ungodly part of the people, as Jer 13:10 intimates in clear words: "This evil people that refuses to hear the word of the Lord, etc., shall be as this girdle." The Lord will mar the גּאון of Judah and Jerusalem. The word means highness in both a good and in an evil sense, glory and self-glory. Here it is used with the latter force. This is shown both by the context, and by a comparison of the passage Lev 26:19, that God will break the נּאון of the people by sore judgments, which is the foundation of the present Jer 13:9. - In Jer 13:11 the meaning of the girdle is given, in order to explain the threatening in Jer 13:9 and Jer 13:10. As the girdle lies on the loins of a man, so the Lord hath laid Israel on Himself, that it may be to Him for a people and for a praise, for a glory and an adornment, inasmuch as He designed to set it above all other nations and to make it very glorious; cf. Deu 26:19, whither these words point back.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Thus saith the Lord unto me - This discourse is supposed to have been delivered under the reign of Jeconiah, the son and successor of Jehoiakim, who came to the throne in the eighteenth year of his age; when the Chaldean generals had encamped near to Jerusalem, but did not besiege it in form till Nebuchadnezzar came up with the great body of the army. In these circumstances the prophet predicts the captivity; and, by a symbolical representation of a rotten girdle, shows the people their totally corrupt state; and by another of bottles filled with wine, shows the destruction and madness of their counsels, and the confusion that must ensue. Go and get thee a linen girdle - This was either a vision, or God simply describes the thing in order that the prophet might use it in the way of illustration. Put it not in water - After having worn it, let it not be washed, that it may more properly represent the uncleanness of the Israelites; for they were represented by the girdle; for "as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah." And as a girdle is as well for ornament as use; God took them for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, Jer 13:11.

Top

⁴ And as for thy nativity [04138], in the day [03117] thou wast born [03205] thy navel [08270] was not cut [03772], neither wast thou washed [07364] in water [04325] to supple [04935] thee; thou wast not salted [04414] at all [04414], nor swaddled [02853] at all [02853].
⁵ None eye [05869] pitied [02347] thee, to do [06213] any [0259] of these unto thee, to have compassion [02550] upon thee; but thou wast cast out [07993] in the open [06440] field [07704], to the lothing [01604] of thy person [05315], in the day [03117] that thou wast born [03205].
⁶ And when I passed [05674] by thee, and saw [07200] thee polluted [0947] in thine own blood [01818], I said [0559] unto thee when thou wast in thy blood [01818], Live [02421]; yea, I said [0559] unto thee when thou wast in thy blood [01818], Live [02421].

¹⁰ This evil [07451] people [05971], which refuse [03987] to hear [08085] my words [01697], which walk [01980] in the imagination [08307] of their heart [03820], and walk [03212] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430], to serve [05647] them, and to worship [07812] them, shall even be as this girdle [0232], which is good [06743] for nothing.

¹¹ For as the girdle [0232] cleaveth [01692] to the loins [04975] of a man [0376], so have I caused to cleave [01692] unto me the whole house [01004] of Israel [03478] and the whole house [01004] of Judah [03063], saith [05002] the LORD [03068]; that they might be unto me for a people [05971], and for a name [08034], and for a praise [08416], and for a glory [08597]: but they would not hear [08085].

¹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] unto me, Go [01980] and get [07069] thee a linen [06593] girdle [0232], and put [07760] it upon thy loins [04975], and put [0935] it not in water [04325].
² So I got [07069] a girdle [0232] according to the word [01697] of the LORD [03068], and put [07760] it on my loins [04975].
³ And the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me the second time [08145], saying [0559],
⁴ Take [03947] the girdle [0232] that thou hast got [07069], which is upon thy loins [04975], and arise [06965], go [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and hide [02934] it there in a hole [05357] of the rock [05553].
⁵ So I went [03212], and hid [02934] it by Euphrates [06578], as the LORD [03068] commanded [06680] me.
⁶ And it came to pass after [07093] many [07227] days [03117], that the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto me, Arise [06965], go [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and take [03947] the girdle [0232] from thence, which I commanded [06680] thee to hide [02934] there.
⁷ Then I went [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and digged [02658], and took [03947] the girdle [0232] from the place [04725] where I had hid [02934] it: and, behold, the girdle [0232] was marred [07843], it was profitable [06743] for nothing.

⁴ He shall put on [03847] the holy [06944] linen [0906] coat [03801], and he shall have the linen [0906] breeches [04370] upon his flesh [01320], and shall be girded [02296] with a linen [0906] girdle [073], and with the linen [0906] mitre [04701] shall he be attired [06801]: these [01992] are holy [06944] garments [0899]; therefore shall he wash [07364] his flesh [01320] in water [04325], and so put them on [03847].

¹⁹ And to make [05414] thee high [05945] above all nations [01471] which he hath made [06213], in praise [08416], and in name [08034], and in honour [08597]; and that thou mayest be an holy [06918] people [05971] unto the LORD [03068] thy God [0430], as he hath spoken [01696].

⁹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], After this manner will I mar [07843] the pride [01347] of Judah [03063], and the great [07227] pride [01347] of Jerusalem [03389].

¹⁹ And I will break [07665] the pride [01347] of your power [05797]; and I will make [05414] your heaven [08064] as iron [01270], and your earth [0776] as brass [05154]:

³⁹ And they that are left [07604] of you shall pine away [04743] in their iniquity [05771] in your enemies [0341] ' lands [0776]; and also in the iniquities [05771] of their fathers [01] shall they pine away [04743] with them.

³⁶ And upon them that are left [07604] alive of you I will send [0935] a faintness [04816] into their hearts [03824] in the lands [0776] of their enemies [0341]; and the sound [06963] of a shaken [05086] leaf [05929] shall chase [07291] them; and they shall flee [05127], as fleeing [04499] from a sword [02719]; and they shall fall [05307] when none pursueth [07291].

⁶ And it came to pass after [07093] many [07227] days [03117], that the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto me, Arise [06965], go [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and take [03947] the girdle [0232] from thence, which I commanded [06680] thee to hide [02934] there.
⁷ Then I went [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and digged [02658], and took [03947] the girdle [0232] from the place [04725] where I had hid [02934] it: and, behold, the girdle [0232] was marred [07843], it was profitable [06743] for nothing.
⁸ Then the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],
⁹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], After this manner will I mar [07843] the pride [01347] of Judah [03063], and the great [07227] pride [01347] of Jerusalem [03389].
¹⁰ This evil [07451] people [05971], which refuse [03987] to hear [08085] my words [01697], which walk [01980] in the imagination [08307] of their heart [03820], and walk [03212] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430], to serve [05647] them, and to worship [07812] them, shall even be as this girdle [0232], which is good [06743] for nothing.
¹¹ For as the girdle [0232] cleaveth [01692] to the loins [04975] of a man [0376], so have I caused to cleave [01692] unto me the whole house [01004] of Israel [03478] and the whole house [01004] of Judah [03063], saith [05002] the LORD [03068]; that they might be unto me for a people [05971], and for a name [08034], and for a praise [08416], and for a glory [08597]: but they would not hear [08085].

⁹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], After this manner will I mar [07843] the pride [01347] of Judah [03063], and the great [07227] pride [01347] of Jerusalem [03389].

⁴ Take [03947] the girdle [0232] that thou hast got [07069], which is upon thy loins [04975], and arise [06965], go [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and hide [02934] it there in a hole [05357] of the rock [05553].

⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom [04467] of priests [03548], and an holy [06918] nation [01471]. These are the words [01697] which thou shalt speak [01696] unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478].

¹⁸ They shall have linen [06593] bonnets [06287] upon their heads [07218], and shall have linen [06593] breeches [04370] upon their loins [04975]; they shall not gird [02296] themselves with any thing that causeth sweat [03154].

²⁹ And a girdle [073] of fine twined [07806] linen [08336], and blue [08504], and purple [0713], and scarlet [08144] [08438], of needlework [07551] [04639]; as the LORD [03068] commanded [06680] Moses [04872].

⁴⁰ And for Aaron's [0175] sons [01121] thou shalt make [06213] coats [03801], and thou shalt make [06213] for them girdles [073], and bonnets [04021] shalt thou make [06213] for them, for glory [03519] and for beauty [08597].

²⁷ And they made [06213] coats [03801] of fine linen [08336] of woven [0707] work [04639] for Aaron [0175], and for his sons [01121],

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, that when they enter [0935] in at the gates [08179] of the inner [06442] court [02691], they shall be clothed [03847] with linen [06593] garments [0899]; and no wool [06785] shall come [05927] upon them, whiles they minister [08334] in the gates [08179] of the inner [06442] court [02691], and within [01004].

⁹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], After this manner will I mar [07843] the pride [01347] of Judah [03063], and the great [07227] pride [01347] of Jerusalem [03389].
¹⁰ This evil [07451] people [05971], which refuse [03987] to hear [08085] my words [01697], which walk [01980] in the imagination [08307] of their heart [03820], and walk [03212] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430], to serve [05647] them, and to worship [07812] them, shall even be as this girdle [0232], which is good [06743] for nothing.
¹¹ For as the girdle [0232] cleaveth [01692] to the loins [04975] of a man [0376], so have I caused to cleave [01692] unto me the whole house [01004] of Israel [03478] and the whole house [01004] of Judah [03063], saith [05002] the LORD [03068]; that they might be unto me for a people [05971], and for a name [08034], and for a praise [08416], and for a glory [08597]: but they would not hear [08085].

⁷ And as for me, when I came [0935] from Padan [06307], Rachel [07354] died [04191] by me in the land [0776] of Canaan [03667] in the way [01870], when [05750] yet there was but a little [03530] way [0776] to come [0935] unto Ephrath [0672]: and I buried her [06912] there in the way [01870] of Ephrath [0672]; the same is Bethlehem [01035].

⁶³ And it shall be, when thou hast made an end [03615] of reading [07121] this book [05612], that thou shalt bind [07194] a stone [068] to it, and cast [07993] it into the midst [08432] of Euphrates [06578]:

¹⁴ And the name [08034] of the third [07992] river [05104] is Hiddekel [02313]: that is it which goeth toward [01980] the east [06926] of Assyria [0804]. And the fourth [07243] river [05104] is Euphrates [06578].

¹⁰ For this is the day [03117] of the Lord [0136] GOD [03069] of hosts [06635], a day [03117] of vengeance [05360], that he may avenge [05358] him of his adversaries [06862]: and the sword [02719] shall devour [0398], and it shall be satiate [07646] and made drunk [07301] with their blood [01818]: for the Lord [0136] GOD [03069] of hosts [06635] hath a sacrifice [02077] in the north [06828] country [0776] by the river [05104] Euphrates [06578].

⁶ Let not the swift [07031] flee away [05127], nor the mighty man [01368] escape [04422]; they shall stumble [03782], and fall [05307] toward the north [06828] by [03027] the river [05104] Euphrates [06578].

² Against Egypt [04714], against the army [02428] of Pharaohnecho [06549] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], which was by the river [05104] Euphrates [06578] in Carchemish [03751], which Nebuchadrezzar [05019] king [04428] of Babylon [0894] smote [05221] in the fourth [07243] year [08141] of Jehoiakim [03079] the son [01121] of Josiah [02977] king [04428] of Judah [03063].

⁹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], After this manner will I mar [07843] the pride [01347] of Judah [03063], and the great [07227] pride [01347] of Jerusalem [03389].

⁸ Then the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me, saying [0559],

⁷ Then I went [03212] to Euphrates [06578], and digged [02658], and took [03947] the girdle [0232] from the place [04725] where I had hid [02934] it: and, behold, the girdle [0232] was marred [07843], it was profitable [06743] for nothing.

⁵ So I went [03212], and hid [02934] it by Euphrates [06578], as the LORD [03068] commanded [06680] me.

³ And the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came unto me the second time [08145], saying [0559],

² So I got [07069] a girdle [0232] according to the word [01697] of the LORD [03068], and put [07760] it on my loins [04975].

¹ Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] unto me, Go [01980] and get [07069] thee a linen [06593] girdle [0232], and put [07760] it upon thy loins [04975], and put [0935] it not in water [04325].