A reading from the book of Jeremiah.

Thus says the Lord to me,

Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist,

and do not dip it in water.

So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it around my waist.

And the word of the Lord came to me around my waist. And the word of the Lord came to me a second

time. Take the loin cloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the

Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the

Lord commanded me.

And after many days the Lord said to me, arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.

Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had

hidden it, and behold, the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the

loincloth was spoiled, it was good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to me.

Thus says the Lord, even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them,

shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waste of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel

and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me

a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

You shall speak to them this word. Thus says the Lord the God of Israel,

every jar shall be filled with wine, and they will say to you, do we not indeed know that every jar

will be filled with wine? Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord,

Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land,

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