4. “Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing and go at once to Perath. Bury the shorts there in a crack in the rocks.”
5. So I went and buried them at Perath as the Lord had ordered me to do.
6. Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get the shorts I ordered you to bury there.”
7. So I went to Perath and dug up the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.
8. Then the Lord said to me,
9. “I, the Lord, say: ‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride.
10. These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.
11. For,’ I say, ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah tightly to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. But they would not obey me.
12. “So tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.”’ And they will probably say to you, ‘Do you not think we know that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?’
13. Then tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor.
14. And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ says the Lord.”
15. Then I said to the people of Judah, “Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant!For the Lord has spoken.
16. Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him.Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster.Do it before you stumble into distresslike a traveler on the mountains at twilight.Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope forinto the darkness and gloom of exile.
17. But if you will not pay attention to this warning,I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tearsbecause you, the Lord’s flock, will be carried into exile.”