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Jeremiah 13

Jeremiah exposes Judah’s refusal to hear the God who bound them to himself, announcing captivity while grieving their pride.

Jeremiah buys a linen belt at YHWH’s command, wears it, then hides it beside the Euphrates until it is ruined. God uses the belt to expose Judah’s pride and refusal to hear him. A second image, wine containers, announces judgment upon Jerusalem’s people and leaders. Jeremiah calls them to humble themselves and weeps over their coming captivity. The closing words confront Jerusalem’s entrenched evil, using images of exposure and shame to describe the judgment ahead.

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1The LORD said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”
2So I bought a belt according to the LORD’s word, and put it on my waist.
4“Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
9“The LORD says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
11For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ says the LORD; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’
13Then tell them, ‘The LORD says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
14I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD: “I will not pity, spare, or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.”’”
15Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud, for the LORD has spoken.
16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it deep darkness.
17But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
18Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory.
19The cities of the South are shut up, and there is no one to open them. Judah is carried away captive: all of them. They are wholly carried away captive.
20Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?
21What will you say when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?
22If you say in your heart, “Why have these things come on me?” Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence.
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.
24“Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says the LORD, “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
26Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame will appear.
27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean. How long will it yet be?”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Jeremiah 13:16The call to give God glory places an urgent appeal to humility before the darkness of judgment.
Jeremiah 13:17Jeremiah’s hidden tears show the grief carried by the prophet who announces captivity for YHWH’s flock.
Jeremiah 13:27The final accusation exposes Jerusalem’s idolatry through sexual imagery and leaves the question of her cleansing unresolved.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah and Ezekiel share Jeremiah’s imagery of pride brought low and a people exposed to shame under God’s judgment; Hosea also portrays idolatry as marital unfaithfulness. Psalm shares the language of a flock belonging to God and tears over the suffering of his people.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does the ruined belt reveal about the relationship God intended with his people?

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How do Jeremiah’s tears shape your reading of the warnings that surround them?

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Questions people ask about Jeremiah 13

What does the linen belt mean in Jeremiah 13?

God explains the sign in verses 9–11. As a belt clings to a person’s waist, Israel and Judah were meant to cling to him and bring him praise and glory. The ruined belt represents what their pride, refusal to listen, and worship of other gods have made of that calling.

What does the Ethiopian and leopard comparison mean in Jeremiah 13:23?

The comparison concerns the grip of established habits: Judah has become accustomed to doing evil. Skin color and a leopard’s spots serve as examples of features neither can change. The verse assigns no moral fault to Ethiopian skin; it uses an unchangeable feature to expose Judah’s inability to abandon entrenched evil.

Who are the king and queen mother in Jeremiah 13:18?

The chapter does not name them, so their identities remain uncertain from this text alone. The queen mother is the king’s mother, a figure of royal standing. Both are told to humble themselves because their crowns have fallen, placing the royal household within the judgment and captivity announced against Judah.

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What the Bible says about guilt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).