1 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Command Giver} to me: "Go and buy for yourself a linen belt and place it upon your loins {motneikha, lower back}, but do not bring it into water."
2 And I bought the belt according to the word of the LORD {YHWH, Commanding Leader}, and I placed it upon my loins {motnay: hip region}.
3 And the word of the LORD {YHWH, Persistent Communicator} came to me a second time, saying {leemor: to declare},
4 Take the belt {ezor: cloth band} that you bought, which is around your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock {binqiq: narrow crack}.
5 And I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD {YHWH, Command Giver} commanded me {oti: me}.
6 And it happened after many days that the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Instructor} said to me, “Arise, go to Perath {peratah: Euphrates River}, and take from there the girdle which I commanded you to hide there.”
7 So I went to Perath {Perath: Euphrates River} and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the waistband was ruined, and it would not succeed {yitslaḥ: would not succeed} for anything.
8 And the word of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Messenger} came to me saying {lemor: introducing direct speech},
9 Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}: "In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem {ge'on: exaltation}."
10 This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart {libam: inner self}, and go after other gods {elohim: false deities} to serve them and to bow down to them, shall be like this sash, which will not succeed for anything.
11 "For just as the girdle clings to the loins of a man, so I caused to cling to Me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah," declares the LORD {YHWH, Binding Redeemer}, "to become for Me a people, and for a name, and for praise, and for glory; but they would not listen {shameu: paid attention}."
12 And you shall say to them this word: Thus says the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Orchestrator of Judgment}, “Every jar {nevel: large earthen vessel} shall be filled with wine.” And they will say to you, “Do we not surely know that every jar shall be filled with wine?”
13 And you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}: Behold, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, both the kings who sit on David’s throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness {shikkaron: stupefying confusion}.”
14 And I will shatter them, a man against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together, declares the LORD {YHWH, Just Judge}. I will not have compassion {echmol: show pity}, nor will I spare, nor will I have mercy; I will destroy them.
15 Hear and give ear; do not be proud {tigbahu: self-exaltation}, for the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Speaker} has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Righteous Judge} before He brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight {nashef: dimming light}; while you hope for light, He makes it into the shadow of death and sets it into thick darkness.
17 But if you will not listen to it, in secret places my soul {nafshi: inner self} shall weep because of pride; and my eye will weep and run down with tears, because the flock of the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Shepherd} is taken captive.
18 Say to the king {melekh: ruler} and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves and sit down, for the crown {ateret: symbol of authority} of your glory has come down from your heads.”
19 The cities of the Negev {negev: southern desert region} are shut up, and there is no one to open them; Judah has been carried away into exile {haglat: forced departure}, all of it completely.
20 Lift up your eyes and behold those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock {ha-eder: people entrusted to your care} that was given to you, your beautiful splendor {tif’artekh: prized glory}?
21 What will you say when He {YHWH, Judicial Visitor} visits you after you have trained them as close allies {allufim: trusted allies} to be head over you? Will not birth pangs seize you like a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things happened to me?” it is on account of the greatness of your iniquity{avon: moral guilt} that your skirts have been uncovered and your heels have been violated{nekhmesu: violent mistreatment}.
23 Can the Cushite {kushi: Ethiopian origin} change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Also, can you do good, being ones accustomed to evil {hara: moral badness}?
24 And I will scatter them like stubble {kash: dried plant remnants} that passes before the wind of the wilderness {midbar: arid wasteland}.
25 This is your lot {gorālekh: destiny allotment}, the portion of your measures from Me, declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, because you have forgotten Me and have trusted in falsehood.
26 And also I {YHWH, Exposer of Shame} have uncovered your skirts upon your face, and your shame {kelonekh: public disgrace} will be seen.
27 I {YHWH: Divine Witness} have seen your adulteries and your neighings—the lewdness of your harlotry on the hills in the field—and your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem {Yerushalayim: Covenant City}! Will you not be made clean? When shall it once be?