NHEB(i)
1 Thus says the LORD to me, "Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and do not put it in water."
2 So I bought a belt according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my waist.
3 The word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying,
4 "Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Perath, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock."
5 So I went, and hid it by the Perath, as the LORD commanded me.
6 It happened after many days, that the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Perath, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there."
7 Then I went to the Perath, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and look, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9 "Thus says the LORD, 'In this way I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,' says the LORD; 'that they might be my people, for a name, for praise, and for glory. But they would not listen.