6. Many days later the Lord said to me, ‘Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.’
7. So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
8. Then the word of the Lord came to me:
9. ‘This is what the Lord says: “In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt – completely useless!
11. For as a belt is bound round the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,” declares the Lord, “to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.”