1
Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy you a linen belt, and put it on your loins, and don`t put it in water.
2
So I bought a belt according to the word of Yahweh, and put it on my loins.
3
The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying,
4
Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.
5
So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.
6
It happened after many days, that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.
7
Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8
Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
9
Thus says Yahweh, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
11
For as the belt cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.