1Thus the LORD said to me, "Go and buy yourself a waistband of flax and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water."2So I bought the belt as the LORD had commanded, and put it around my waist.3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying:4"Take the belt you bought, which is around your waist, get up, go to Parah, and hide it there in a rock cleft."5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, just as the LORD had commanded me.6And it came about after many days that the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Perath, and take from there the belt which I commanded you to hide there."7I went to Parah, dug it up, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it. Behold, the belt was destroyed; it was good for nothing.8And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,9Thus says the LORD: In this way I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.10This evil people refuses to hear the words of those who walk in the stubbornness of their heart. They walk after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They are like this belt, which is good for nothing.11For just as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah to cling to me, says the LORD, to be to me for a people and for a name and for praise and for glory, but they did not listen.