1. Thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water.
2. And I bought the girdle according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.
3. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,
4. Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5. So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6. And it came to pass after many days that the Lord said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.
8. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9. Thus hath the Lord said, After this manner I will cause the pride of Judah to rot and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10. This evil people that refuses to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and went after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11. For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people and for fame, and for a praise, and for honour; but they did not hear.
12. Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus hath the Lord God of Israel said, Every bottle shall be filled with wine; and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13. Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus hath the Lord said, Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
14. And I will break them one against another, even the fathers with the sons together, saith the Lord; I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy to not destroy them.
15. Hear ye and give ear; do not be proud: for the Lord has spoken.