5. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
6. After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the waistband from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”
7. Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But the waistband was destroyed. It was profitable for nothing.
8. Then the word of the Lord came to me:
9. Thus says the Lord: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10. This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the imagination of their hearts, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall be even as this waistband which is good for nothing.
11. For as the waistband cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Me, says the Lord, so that they might be to Me a people for renown, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not listen.