12:16. And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
12:17. But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.
Jeremias Chapter 13
Under the figure of a linen girdle is foretold the destruction of the
Jews. Their obstinacy in sin brings all miseries upon them.
13:1. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.
13:2. And I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it about my loins.
13:3. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:
13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
13:5. And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
13:6. And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.