Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:

Thus says the Lord : Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

For as the loincloth clings to one's loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord , in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.
Symbol of the Wine-Jars

You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel: Every wine-jar should be filled with wine. And they will say to you, “Do you think we do not know that every wine-jar should be filled with wine?”

Then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord : I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.

And I will dash them one against another, parents and children together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion when I destroy them.
Exile Threatened

Hear and give ear; do not be haughty, for the Lord has spoken.

Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight; while you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord 's flock has been taken captive.

Say to the king and the queen mother; “Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.”

The towns of the Negeb are shut up with no one to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.

Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you have trained to be your allies? Will not pangs take hold of you, like those of a woman in labor?

And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?” it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you are violated.

Can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.

This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, says the Lord , because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your shameless prostitutions on the hills of the countryside. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?

The Babylonian Captivity Foretold

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon),

which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:

For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.

And though the Lord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear

when they said, “Turn now, everyone of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever;

do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.”

Yet you did not listen to me, says the Lord , and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,

I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord , even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace.

And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord , making the land an everlasting waste.

I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.
The Cup of God's Wrath

For thus the Lord , the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.

So I took the cup from the Lord 's hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:

Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as they are today;

Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;

all the mixed people; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;

Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples;

all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that live in the desert;

all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach shall drink.

Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.

And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink!

See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and how can you possibly avoid punishment? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.

You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: The Lord will roar from on high, and from his holy habitation utter his voice; he will roar mightily against his fold, and shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh, and the guilty he will put to the sword, says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: See, disaster is spreading from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth!

Those slain by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become dung on the surface of the ground.

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in ashes, you lords of the flock, for the days of your slaughter have come—and your dispersions, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

Flight shall fail the shepherds, and there shall be no escape for the lords of the flock.

Hark! the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the lords of the flock! For the Lord is despoiling their pasture,

and the peaceful folds are devastated, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

Like a lion he has left his covert; for their land has become a waste because of the cruel sword, and because of his fierce anger.