Dual Panel1These were the words of the LORD to me: Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and wrap it round your body, but do not put it in water.
2So I bought one as instructed by the LORD and wrapped it round me.
3The LORD spoke to me a second time:
4Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing and go now to Perath, where you are to hide it in a crevice in the rocks.
5I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD had ordered me.
6A long time afterwards the LORD said to me: Set out now for Perath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there.
7So I went to Perath and looked for the place where I had hidden it, but when I picked it up, I saw that it was ruined and no good for anything.
8The LORD spoke to me:
9Thus shall I ruin the enormous pride of Judah and Jerusalem.
10This wicked people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the promptings of their stubborn hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will become like this loincloth, no good for anything.
11Just as a loincloth is bound close to a man's body, so I bound all Israel and all Judah to myself, says the LORD, so that they should become my people to be a source of renown and praise and glory to me; but they did not listen.
12You are to say this to them: These are the words of the LORD the God of Israel: Wine jars should be filled with wine. They will answer, “We are well aware that wine jars should be filled with wine.”
13Then say to them, These are the words of the LORD: I shall fill all the inhabitants of this land with wine until they are drunk -- kings of David's line who sit on his throne, priests, prophets, and all who live in Jerusalem.
14I shall dash them one against the other, fathers and sons together, says the LORD; I shall show them no compassion or pity or tenderness, nor refrain from destroying them.
15Pay heed; be not too proud to listen, for it is the LORD who speaks.
16Ascribe glory to the LORD your God before the darkness falls, before your feet stumble against the hillside in the twilight, before he turns the light you look for to deep gloom and thick darkness.
17If in those depths you will not listen, then for very anguish I can only weep bitterly; my eyes must stream with tears, for the LORD's flock is carried off into captivity.
18Say to the king and the queen mother: Take a humble seat, for your proud crowns are fallen from your heads.
19The towns in the Negeb are besieged, and no one can relieve them; all Judah has been swept into exile, swept clean away.
20Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?
21What will you say when your leaders are missing, though trained by you to be your head? Will not pangs seize you like the pangs of a woman in labour,
22when you wonder, “Why has this happened to me”? For your many sins your skirts are stripped off you, your limbs uncovered.
23Can a Nubian change his skin, or a leopard its spots? No more can you do good, you who are schooled in evil.
24I shall scatter you like chaff before the desert wind.
25This is your lot, your portion as a rebel, decreed by me, says the LORD, because you have quite forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
26So I myself have torn off your skirts and laid bare your shame:
27your adulteries, your lustful neighing, your wanton lewdness. On the hills and the open fields I have seen your foul deeds. Woe to you, Jerusalem, in your uncleanness! How long will you delay?