Jeremiah
Chapter 13
The Linen Belt
This is what the Lord told me: “Go! Buy yourself a linen belt and put it around your waist; do not soak it in water.”
So I bought the belt as the Lord commanded and placed it around my waist.
The word of the Lord came to me a second time:
“Take the belt you bought, the one you wear around your waist, and go to the torrent Perah; hide it there in a hole in the rock.”
I went and hid it as the Lord told me.
After many days, the Lord said to me: “Go to the torrent, Perah, and get the belt I ordered you to hide there.”
I went to the torrent and dug up the belt, but it was ruined and useless.
And the Lord said to me:
“In this way, I will destroy the pride and great glory of Judah—this wicked people who refuse to listen to what I say, these stubborn individuals who follow other gods to serve and worship them. And they will become like this belt, which is now useless. For just as a belt is meant to be worn around a person’s waist, so were the people of Israel and Judah bound to me—it is the Lord who speaks—to be my people, my glory, and my honor; but they would not listen.”
The Final Deadline
You will tell them this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: “Every pitcher should be filled with wine.” And they will reply, “Don’t we already know that a pitcher should be filled with wine?”
You will reply: “You are the pitchers that the Lord will fill until you are drunk. I will fill all who live in this land with drunkenness—kings who succeeded David, priests, prophets, and everyone who lives in Jerusalem
I will dash them one against another, parents and children together. I will have neither compassion nor mercy when I destroy them.”
Listen carefully and stay humble, for the Lord has spoken!
Give praise to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, causing your feet to stumble on the darkening hills. You hoped for light, but he may turn it into the darkness of death and deep gloom!
If you ignore this warning, I will cry secretly because of your pride, and I will shed tears when the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
Tell the king and the queen’s mother, “Humble yourselves, for the crown of glory has fallen from your head.
The cities of the Negeb have been shut, and no one comes to open them, all Judah is deported, completely carried off.”
Look to Jerusalem and observe those coming from the north. Where is the flock you’re entrusted with, and where are your beautiful sheep?
What will you say when those you allow to take liberties with you return to oppress you? Won’t your pain be like that of a woman giving birth?
And if you ask yourself: “Why has all this disgrace come upon me?” it is because of your great wickedness that they have torn off your clothes and treated you violently.
Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots? And can you do good, you who are used to doing evil?
I will scatter you like straw blown across the desert wind;
that is your reward —it is the Lord who speaks— because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
I will pull your skirts over your face, and your shame will be exposed.
Your adultery, your neighing, your brazen prostitution —all this abomination I have seen on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! When will you finally be cleansed?”
Commentaries
The Linen Belt.
The prophet conveys God’s message not only through oracles but also symbolically through his entire life, as demonstrated by what the Lord asks of him, such as his celibacy (16:2-4). This symbolic act emphasizes Israel’s loyalty to God, just as the linen belt must be tied around the waist (11). This relationship has been broken and, like the belt, has become useless (10). The theme of the people’s disobedience is repeated.
The Final Deadline.
The prophet describes the problematic situation that Judah is facing as a warning from the Lord, who still hopes his people will change their hearts. Jeremiah, who suffers internally because of the people’s stubbornness, attributes these attitudes to God himself; it is as if God is suffering and weeping over their resistance to recognizing and admitting their errors. Verses 18-21 contain a message directed to the king and queen mother, urging them to repent. This could refer to King Jehoiachin, who, along with his mother and other members of the aristocracy, was the first to be exiled to Babylon. Verses 23-27 deliver a message to all of Israel, calling for repentance while also acknowledging their inability to change their ways. Therefore, they are promised a necessary punishment, intended to teach them a lesson, bring them to their senses, and lead them to repentance.