Jeremiah 13:1-9

1Thus Adonai said to me: “Go, and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, and do not put it in water.”

2So I got a waistband in keeping with the word of Adonai, and put it on my waist.

3Then the word of Adonai came to me a second time, saying:

4“Take the waistband that you bought, which is on your waist, and get up, go to Perath and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

5So I went and hid it at Perath, as Adonai commanded me.

6Now it came to pass after many days that Adonai said to me: “Get up, go to Perath, and take the waistband that I commanded you to hide there.”

7So I went to Perath, dug it up and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But to my surprise, the waistband was marred, worth nothing at all.

8Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying,

9thus says Adonai: “Just so I will mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.