1 Thus says the Lord to me, "Go and buy a linen loincloth and q put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water." 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, 4 "Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, r go to the Euphrates and hide it there in s a cleft of the rock." 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there q the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there." 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took q the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was t spoiled; it was u good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 "Thus says the Lord: v Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great w pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, x who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is u good for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, y that they might be for me a people, z a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.