The Ruined Waistband 1Thus the LORD said to me, Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water. 2So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock. 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. 6After many days the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there. 7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless. 8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9Thus says the LORD, Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. 11For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.
15Listen and give heed, do not be haughty,
16Give glory to the LORD your God,
17But if you will not listen to it,
18Say to the king and the queen mother,
19The cities of the Negev have been locked up,
20Lift up your eyes and see
21What will you say when He appoints over you
22If you say in your heart,
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin
24Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
25This is your lot, the portion measured to you
26So I Myself have also stripped your skirts off over your face,
27As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org Bible Apps |