^{1 Ref} This is what the Lord said to me: Go and get yourself a linen band and put it round you and do not put it in water.

^{2 Ref} So, as the Lord said, I got a band for a price and put it round my body.

^{3 Ref} And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying,

^{4 Ref} Take the band which you got for a price, which is round your body, and go to Parah and put it in a secret place there in a hole of the rock.

^{5 Ref} So I went and put it in a secret place by Parah, as the Lord had said to me.

⁶ Then after a long time, the Lord said to me, Up! go to Parah and get the band which I gave you orders to put there.

^{7 Ref} So I went to Parah and, uncovering the hole, took the band from the place where I had put it away: and the band was damaged and of no use for anything.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

^{9 Ref} The Lord has said, In this way I will do damage to the pride of Judah and to the great pride of Jerusalem.

^{10 Ref} These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything.

^{11 Ref} For as a band goes tightly round a man's body, so I made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah tightly united to me; so that they might be a people for me and a name and a praise and a glory: but they would not give ear.

^{12 Ref} So you are to say this word to them: This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Every skin bottle will be full of wine; and they will say to you, Is it not quite clear to us that every skin bottle will be full of wine?

^{13 Ref} Then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, I will make all the people of this land, even the kings seated on David's seat, and the priests and the prophets and all the people of Jerusalem, overcome with strong drink.

^{14 Ref} I will have them smashed against one another, fathers and sons together, says the Lord: I will have no pity or mercy, I will have no feeling for them to keep me from giving them to destruction.

^{15 Ref} Give ear and let your ears be open; be not lifted up: for these are the words of the Lord.

^{16 Ref} Give glory to the Lord your God, before he makes it dark, and before your feet are slipping on the dark mountains, and, while you are looking for a light, he makes it into deep dark, into black night.

^{17 Ref} But if you do not give ear to it, my soul will be weeping in secret for your pride; my eye will be weeping bitterly, streaming with water, because the Lord's flock has been taken away as prisoners.

^{18 Ref} Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads.

^{19 Ref} The towns of the south are shut up, and there is no one to make them open: Judah is taken away as prisoners; all Judah is taken away as prisoners.

^{20 Ref} Let your eyes be lifted up (O Jerusalem), and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock which was given to you, your beautiful flock?

^{21 Ref} What will you say when he puts over you those whom you yourself have made your friends? will not pains take you like a woman in childbirth?

^{22 Ref} And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come on me? because of the number of your sins, your skirts have been uncovered and violent punishment overtakes you.

^{23 Ref} Is it possible for the skin of the Ethiopian to be changed, or the markings on the leopard? Then it might be possible for you to do good, who have been trained to do evil.

^{24 Ref} So I will send them in all directions, as dry grass is taken away by the wind of the waste land.

^{25 Ref} This is your fate, the part measured out to you by me, says the Lord, because you have put me out of your memory and put your faith in what is false.

^{26 Ref} So I will have your skirts uncovered before your face, in order that your shame may be seen.

^{27 Ref} I have seen your disgusting acts, even your false behaviour and your cries of desire and your loose ways on the hills in the field. Unhappy are you, O Jerusalem, you have no desire to be made clean; how long will you be in turning back to me?

^{1 Ref} Thus said Jehovah unto me, `Go, and thou hast got for thee a girdle of linen, and hast placed it on thy loins, and into water thou dost not cause it to enter:'

^{2 Ref} and I get the girdle, according to the word of Jehovah, and I place `it' on my loins.

^{3 Ref} And there is a word of Jehovah unto me a second time, saying,

^{4 Ref} `Take the girdle that thou hast got, that `is' on thy loins, and rise, go to Phrat, and hide it there in a hole of the rock;

^{5 Ref} and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me.

⁶ And it cometh to pass, at the end of many days, that Jehovah saith unto me, `Rise, go to Phrat, and take thence the girdle, that I commanded thee to hide there;'

^{7 Ref} and I go to Phrat, and dig, and take the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and lo, the girdle hath been marred, it is not profitable for anything.

⁸ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Thus said Jehovah:

^{9 Ref} Thus do I mar the excellency of Judah, And the great excellency of Jerusalem.

^{10 Ref} This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, Who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, And go after other gods to serve them, And to bow themselves to them, Yea it is -- as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

^{11 Ref} For, as the girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave unto Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah, To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not hearkened.

^{12 Ref} And thou hast said unto them this word, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, `Every bottle is full of wine,' And they have said unto thee: `Do we not certainly know that every bottle is full of wine?'

^{13 Ref} And thou hast said unto them, `Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, And the kings who sit for David on his throne, And the priests, and the prophets, And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, `With' drunkenness,

^{14 Ref} And have dashed them one against another, And the fathers and the sons together, An affirmation of Jehovah, I do not pity, nor spare, nor have I mercy, So as not to destroy them.

^{15 Ref} Hear, and give ear -- be not haughty, For Jehovah hath spoken.

^{16 Ref} Give ye to Jehovah your God honour, Before He doth cause darkness, And before your feet stumble on dark mountains, And ye have waited for light, And He hath made it for death-shade, And hath appointed `it' for thick darkness.

^{17 Ref} And if ye do not hear it, In secret places doth my soul weep, because of pride, Yea, it weepeth sore, And the tear cometh down mine eyes, For the flock of Jehovah hath been taken captive.

^{18 Ref} Say to the king and to the mistress: Make yourselves low -- sit still, For come down have your principalities, The crown of your beauty.

^{19 Ref} The cities of the south have been shut up, And there is none opening, Judah hath been removed -- all of her, She hath been removed completely --

^{20 Ref} Lift up your eyes, and see those coming in from the north, Where `is' the drove given to thee, thy beautiful flock?

^{21 Ref} What dost thou say, when He looketh after thee? And thou -- thou hast taught them `to be' over thee -- leaders for head? Do not pangs seize thee as a travailing woman?

^{22 Ref} And when thou dost say in thy heart, `Wherefore have these met me?' For the abundance of thine iniquity Have thy skirts been uncovered, Have thy heels suffered violence.

^{23 Ref} Doth a Cushite change his skin? and a leopard his spots? Ye also are able to do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

^{24 Ref} And I scatter them as stubble, Passing away, by a wind of the wilderness.

^{25 Ref} This `is' thy lot, the portion of thy measures from Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Because thou hast forgotten me, And dost trust in falsehood.

^{26 Ref} I also have made bare thy skirts before thy face, And thy shame hath been seen.

^{27 Ref} Thine adulteries, and thy neighings, The wickedness of thy whoredom, on heights in a field, I have seen thine abominations. Wo to thee, O Jerusalem, Thou art not cleansed, after when `is it' again?