Jeremiah 13 Study Notes: The Ruined Linen Loincloth
Jeremiah hides a linen undergarment at Perath and finds it spoiled, a sign that God will humble proud Judah, the people He had bound to Himself. Warnings follow about wineskins, coming darkness and exile, a people so used to evil they cannot change, and their scattering.
General
True or False: Jeremiah urges the people to honor the LORD before He sends darkness, and says that if they will not listen he will weep privately over their pride (Jeremiah 13:15-17).
Answer: True
This is true. Jeremiah pleads with the people not to be arrogant but to listen, because God Himself has spoken (13:15). They are to honor God before He sends darkness and their feet stumble on darkening mountains, when the light they hope for turns into deep gloom (13:16). If they still refuse, Jeremiah will weep privately over their pride, his eyes streaming since the LORD’s flock is led away as captives (13:17). God sets Himself against the proud and shows grace to the lowly (James 4:6), and Jeremiah’s grief echoes his wish elsewhere that he could cry without ceasing for his people (Jeremiah 9:1).
- Jeremiah 13:15-17 (BSB)“Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness. But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.”Jeremiah calls the people to humility and glory to God, and says he will weep over their pride if they refuse.
- James 4:6 (BSB)“But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.””God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, the issue Jeremiah presses.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (BSB)“Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.”Jeremiah elsewhere longs to weep day and night over his people’s destruction.
Theological
True or False: In Jeremiah 13:15-17 the prophet calls the people to honor the LORD before darkness falls and says he will weep secretly for their pride if they refuse to hear.
Answer: True
This is true. The call is to humble submission: hear, do not be proud, for the word is the LORD’s (13:15); honor the LORD before darkness and stumbling come, turning hoped-for light into thick gloom (13:16). Refusal will leave the prophet weeping in secret over their pride, since the LORD’s flock is carried captive (13:17). Pride is the root sin here, and Scripture consistently sets God against the proud and His grace toward the humble (James 4:6). The prophet’s tears for a people under judgment recur throughout the book (Jeremiah 9:1).
- Jeremiah 13:15-17 (BSB)“Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness. But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.”Jeremiah calls the people to humility and glory to God, and says he will weep over their pride if they refuse.
- James 4:6 (BSB)“But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.””God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, the issue Jeremiah presses.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (BSB)“Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.”Jeremiah elsewhere longs to weep day and night over his people’s destruction.
General
What message was Jeremiah to give the king and the queen mother (Jeremiah 13:18-19)?
Answer: To sit in a humble place since their crowns had fallen
The royal family was not exempt from God’s judgment. Jeremiah was to tell the king and the queen mother to come down and sit in a humble place, because their glorious crowns had fallen from their heads (13:18). The towns of the Negev, the dry southern region, were shut with no one to open them, and all Judah was being carried into exile (13:19). Pride in the palace would be brought low along with the pride of the people. Jesus taught the same principle: whoever lifts himself up will be brought low (Luke 14:11), and Isaiah said human arrogance will be brought down while the LORD alone is exalted (Isaiah 2:11).
- Jeremiah 13:18-19 (BSB)“Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.” The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive.”The king and queen mother are told to sit low because their crowns have fallen, and Judah is going into exile.
- Luke 14:11 (BSB)“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””Jesus states that those who exalt themselves will be humbled.
- Isaiah 2:11 (BSB)“The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”Isaiah declares that human pride will be brought low and the LORD alone exalted.
Theological
What does the LORD command Jeremiah to tell the king and the queen mother in Jeremiah 13:18-19?
Answer: To sit in a humble place since their crowns had fallen
Judgment reaches the throne. The king and the queen mother are to sit in a humble place, for their splendid crowns have fallen (13:18); the Negev cities are shut up and all Judah is exiled entirely (13:19). The highest in the land are told to humble themselves under a verdict already announced. The principle is constant across Scripture: the self-exalted will be humbled (Luke 14:11), and in that day human loftiness is brought low so that He alone is exalted (Isaiah 2:11).
- Jeremiah 13:18-19 (BSB)“Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.” The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive.”The king and queen mother are told to sit low because their crowns have fallen, and Judah is going into exile.
- Luke 14:11 (BSB)“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””Jesus states that those who exalt themselves will be humbled.
- Isaiah 2:11 (BSB)“The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”Isaiah declares that human pride will be brought low and the LORD alone exalted.
General
The LORD asks whether an Ethiopian can change the color of his skin or a leopard its spots. What does this say about people long practiced in evil (Jeremiah 13:23)?
Answer: They could not make themselves do what is good
An Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin, and a leopard cannot remove its spots. Just so, the LORD says, people who are used to doing evil cannot make themselves do good (13:23). Sin is not just a set of bad choices that can be dropped by effort; it has shaped the heart itself. Jeremiah later says the human heart is more deceptive than anything else and incurable (Jeremiah 17:9), and Paul says the mind ruled by the flesh, that is, by sinful human nature, cannot obey God’s law or please Him (Romans 8:7-8). This inability is what theologians call total depravity: sin affects every part of a person, so no one can turn to God on his own. The hope is that God Himself gives a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and makes spiritually dead people alive by His grace (Ephesians 2:4-5).
- Jeremiah 13:23 (BSB)“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.”The LORD compares ingrained evil to unchangeable skin and spots.
- Jeremiah 17:9 (BSB)“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”Jeremiah teaches that the heart itself is deceitful and beyond cure.
- Romans 8:7-8 (BSB)“because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.”Paul says the mind of the flesh cannot submit to God or please Him.
- Ezekiel 36:26 (BSB)“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”God promises to do what people cannot do for themselves: give a new heart.
- Ephesians 2:4-5 (BSB)“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!”God’s mercy makes alive those who were dead in their trespasses.
Theological
What does the image of the Ethiopian’s skin and the leopard’s spots in Jeremiah 13:23 teach about those practiced in evil?
Answer: They could not make themselves do what is good
The two rhetorical questions assume their answer: the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard its spots, and neither can those habituated to evil do good (13:23). The verse is a clear statement of moral inability. Sin is not merely external behavior but a settled condition of the heart, which Jeremiah elsewhere calls supremely deceptive and incurable (Jeremiah 17:9); Paul likewise says the fleshly mind neither does nor can obey God’s law (Romans 8:7-8). This is total depravity: fallen people cannot reform themselves. The remedy must therefore come from God, who promises to replace the heart of stone with a living, responsive heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and who, rich in mercy, makes the dead alive in Christ by grace (Ephesians 2:4-5).
- Jeremiah 13:23 (BSB)“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.”The LORD compares ingrained evil to unchangeable skin and spots.
- Jeremiah 17:9 (BSB)“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”Jeremiah teaches that the heart itself is deceitful and beyond cure.
- Romans 8:7-8 (BSB)“because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.”Paul says the mind of the flesh cannot submit to God or please Him.
- Ezekiel 36:26 (BSB)“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”God promises to do what people cannot do for themselves: give a new heart.
- Ephesians 2:4-5 (BSB)“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!”God’s mercy makes alive those who were dead in their trespasses.
General
The LORD said He had bound Israel and Judah closely to Himself, the way a loincloth is wrapped tightly around the body. For what purpose did He do this (Jeremiah 13:11)?
Answer: So they would be His people for His fame and glory
The loincloth was worn tightly against the body, and the LORD used that picture for the close relationship He had given His people. He had made Israel and Judah hold fast to Him so that they would be His own people, bringing Him fame, praise, and glory, yet they refused to hear (13:11). Their closeness to God was His gift and choice, and its goal was His honor. Moses had told Israel that the LORD declared them His treasured people and promised to raise them above the nations in honor (Deuteronomy 26:18-19). Isaiah says God’s people were made for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), and Peter says believers in Christ are a people belonging to God, called to proclaim His virtues (1 Peter 2:9).
- Jeremiah 13:11 (BSB)“For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.”The LORD explains that He bound His people to Himself as a garment clings to the body, for His glory, but they did not listen.
- Deuteronomy 26:18-19 (BSB)“And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments, that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has promised.”The covenant made Israel God’s treasured possession, to be raised above the nations in honor.
- Isaiah 43:7 (BSB)“everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.””God says His people were formed and made for His glory.
- 1 Peter 2:9 (BSB)“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”Believers are God’s chosen people and His own possession, called to proclaim His virtues.
Theological
According to Jeremiah 13:11, what was God’s purpose in binding Israel and Judah to Himself like a garment?
Answer: So they would be His people for His fame and glory
The image turns from judgment to God’s original intent. As the garment clings to the waist, so the LORD bound both Israel and Judah closely to Himself, to be His people for His renown, praise, and glory (13:11). The initiative is God’s: He bound them to Himself, and the end in view is His own glory, which their refusal to listen spurned. The same purpose appears in Moses’ covenant words, where the LORD declares Israel His treasured possession to be raised above the nations in honor (Deuteronomy 26:18-19), in Isaiah’s statement that God’s people were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), and in Peter’s description of the church as God’s chosen people for His own possession (1 Peter 2:9).
- Jeremiah 13:11 (BSB)“For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I have made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, declares the LORD, so that they might be My people for My renown and praise and glory. But they did not listen.”The LORD explains that He bound His people to Himself as a garment clings to the body, for His glory, but they did not listen.
- Deuteronomy 26:18-19 (BSB)“And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments, that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has promised.”The covenant made Israel God’s treasured possession, to be raised above the nations in honor.
- Isaiah 43:7 (BSB)“everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.””God says His people were formed and made for His glory.
- 1 Peter 2:9 (BSB)“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”Believers are God’s chosen people and His own possession, called to proclaim His virtues.
General
Jeremiah wore a linen loincloth, hid it in a rocky cleft at Perath, and later dug it up ruined. What did the LORD say the ruined cloth showed (Jeremiah 13:1-10)?
Answer: God would bring down Judah’s and Jerusalem’s pride
At the LORD’s command Jeremiah bought a linen loincloth, an undergarment worn close to the body, wore it while keeping it from touching water, then hid it in the rocks at Perath (13:1-5). When he went back many days later and dug it up, it was spoiled and good for nothing (13:6-7). The LORD explained that likewise He would spoil Judah’s pride and Jerusalem’s alike (13:9). The people who refused to hear His words, followed their own stubborn hearts, and served other gods would become as useless as that cloth (13:10). Scripture warns that pride leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18) and that only the LORD will be lifted up when human arrogance is humbled (Isaiah 2:11).
- Jeremiah 13:7 (BSB)“So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined—of no use at all.”Jeremiah digs up the hidden loincloth and finds it ruined.
- Jeremiah 13:9-10 (BSB)““This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth—of no use at all.”The LORD explains the sign: He will ruin Judah’s pride, and the stubborn, idolatrous people will be like the useless cloth.
- Proverbs 16:18 (BSB)“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”The proverb ties pride to coming destruction, the same link the sign makes.
- Isaiah 2:11 (BSB)“The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”Isaiah also announces that human arrogance will be humbled while the LORD alone is exalted.
Theological
In the sign-act of the linen loincloth hidden at Perath (Jeremiah 13:1-10), what does the spoiled garment signify?
Answer: God would bring down Judah’s and Jerusalem’s pride
The loincloth sign is an acted parable. Jeremiah wears the linen garment, hides it in the rocks at Perath, and later digs it up ruined and worthless (13:1-7). The LORD interprets: so He will spoil the proud self-confidence of Judah and Jerusalem (13:9). The cause is named precisely: they refuse to hear His word, follow their own obstinate hearts, and chase foreign gods (13:10), so they become as useless as the ruined cloth. The judgment targets the people’s arrogance, in line with the proverb that pride precedes destruction (Proverbs 16:18) and the prophetic theme that human loftiness will be humbled while the LORD alone is exalted (Isaiah 2:11).
- Jeremiah 13:7 (BSB)“So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined—of no use at all.”Jeremiah digs up the hidden loincloth and finds it ruined.
- Jeremiah 13:9-10 (BSB)““This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth—of no use at all.”The LORD explains the sign: He will ruin Judah’s pride, and the stubborn, idolatrous people will be like the useless cloth.
- Proverbs 16:18 (BSB)“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”The proverb ties pride to coming destruction, the same link the sign makes.
- Isaiah 2:11 (BSB)“The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.”Isaiah also announces that human arrogance will be humbled while the LORD alone is exalted.
General
The LORD says He will scatter His people like chaff blown off by a wind from the wilderness. What reason does He give (Jeremiah 13:24-27)?
Answer: Because they had forgotten Him and relied on lies
Chaff is the light husk left over when grain is threshed, and the wind blows it away. The LORD says He will scatter His people like that, and that this is the portion He has measured out for them, because they forgot Him and trusted in lies (13:24-25). He will expose their shame, and He has seen their unfaithfulness, pictured as a wife betraying her husband, meaning their worship of other gods out in the open countryside (13:26-27). The chapter closes with a cry of grief: how long will Jerusalem stay unclean (13:27)? The psalmist uses the same picture: the wicked are like chaff blown away by the wind (Psalm 1:4).
- Jeremiah 13:24-25 (BSB)““I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.”The LORD says He will scatter them like chaff because they forgot Him and trusted falsehood.
- Psalm 1:4 (BSB)“Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.”The psalm uses the same image of chaff blown away for the wicked.
- Jeremiah 2:32 (BSB)“Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.”Jeremiah’s earlier charge is that God’s people have forgotten Him.
Theological
In Jeremiah 13:24-27, on what ground does the LORD say He will scatter His people like chaff?
Answer: Because they had forgotten Him and relied on lies
The closing oracle assigns Judah its allotted portion: to be scattered like chaff before the desert wind, because they forgot the LORD and put their trust in lies (13:24-25). God will expose their shame, and their idolatry out in the open countryside is described in the prophetic language of marital unfaithfulness (13:26-27). The chapter ends with a woe and a lament: how long will Jerusalem remain unclean (13:27)? The chaff image is the classic picture of the wicked under judgment (Psalm 1:4), and forgetting the LORD is Jeremiah’s recurring charge (Jeremiah 2:32).
- Jeremiah 13:24-25 (BSB)““I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.”The LORD says He will scatter them like chaff because they forgot Him and trusted falsehood.
- Psalm 1:4 (BSB)“Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.”The psalm uses the same image of chaff blown away for the wicked.
- Jeremiah 2:32 (BSB)“Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.”Jeremiah’s earlier charge is that God’s people have forgotten Him.
General
When Jerusalem asks why disaster and disgrace have come upon her, what answer does the LORD give (Jeremiah 13:20-22)?
Answer: Because of the great size of their own iniquity
Jerusalem is told to look up and see the enemy approaching from the north and asked what became of the flock placed in her care (13:20). The allies she cultivated would become her masters, and pain would seize her like a mother giving birth (13:21). If she asks why this has happened, the answer is plain: her public shame has come because her iniquity is so great (13:22). The disaster was not bad luck or a sign that God was weak. It was the just result of her sin, as Jeremiah had already told Judah that she brought trouble on herself by abandoning the LORD her God (Jeremiah 2:17). The chapter later adds that she had forgotten God and trusted falsehood (13:25).
- Jeremiah 13:22 (BSB)“And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.”The LORD tells Jerusalem that her disgrace comes from the greatness of her iniquity.
- Jeremiah 13:25 (BSB)“This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.”The LORD names the cause: they forgot Him and trusted in falsehood.
- Jeremiah 2:17 (BSB)“Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?”Judah is told that her troubles come from forsaking the LORD.
- Jeremiah 2:19 (BSB)“Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.”Her own wickedness and apostasy are the means of her discipline.
- Jeremiah 2:32 (BSB)“Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.”God laments that His people have forgotten Him for countless days.
Theological
In Jeremiah 13:20-22, how does the LORD answer Jerusalem’s question about why calamity has come?
Answer: Because of the great size of their own iniquity
The section anticipates Jerusalem’s protest and answers it directly. Enemies come from the north, the flock is gone, former allies become overlords, and anguish seizes her like labor pains (13:20-21). Should she ask why, the cause is the magnitude of her iniquity, which has brought her public disgrace (13:22). The calamity is covenant judgment, not divine weakness or arbitrary fate; it is the harvest of her own apostasy, which the LORD had already warned her about (Jeremiah 2:17, 19), and the chapter roots it in her forgetting the LORD and trusting falsehood (13:25).
- Jeremiah 13:22 (BSB)“And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.”The LORD tells Jerusalem that her disgrace comes from the greatness of her iniquity.
- Jeremiah 13:25 (BSB)“This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.”The LORD names the cause: they forgot Him and trusted in falsehood.
- Jeremiah 2:17 (BSB)“Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?”Judah is told that her troubles come from forsaking the LORD.
- Jeremiah 2:19 (BSB)“Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.”Her own wickedness and apostasy are the means of her discipline.
- Jeremiah 2:32 (BSB)“Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.”God laments that His people have forgotten Him for countless days.
General
The people scoffed at a saying about wineskins and wine. Whom did the LORD say He would fill with drunkenness (Jeremiah 13:12-14)?
Answer: Everyone in the land, from kings to common people
Jeremiah was to announce that every wineskin would be full of wine, and the people would answer that of course they knew that (13:12). Then came the LORD’s meaning. He would fill everyone who lived in the land with drunkenness: the kings in David’s line, priests, prophets, and every resident of Jerusalem (13:13). He would dash them into each other, parents and children together, and would not let mercy hold Him back (13:14). Elsewhere Scripture pictures God’s wrath as a cup He makes people drink until they stagger (Jeremiah 25:15-16; Isaiah 51:17). The drunkenness here is the helpless confusion of judgment, not literal wine.
- Jeremiah 13:12-14 (BSB)“Therefore you are to tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’ And when they reply, ‘Don’t we surely know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem. I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’””The wineskin saying becomes a picture of God filling the whole land with the stupor of judgment.
- Jeremiah 25:15-16 (BSB)“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.””Jeremiah later receives the cup of wrath that makes the nations stagger, the same picture of judgment as drunkenness.
- Isaiah 51:17 (BSB)“Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.”Isaiah describes Jerusalem as having drained the LORD’s cup of fury until it staggered.
- Psalm 75:8 (BSB)“For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.”The psalmist pictures a cup in the LORD’s hand that all the wicked must drink.
Theological
In the wineskin oracle (Jeremiah 13:12-14), who does the LORD say He will fill with drunkenness?
Answer: Everyone in the land, from kings to common people
The oracle turns a proverb into an indictment. When the people shrug at the obvious truth that wineskins are for wine (13:12), the LORD declares that He will fill all the land’s inhabitants with drunkenness: the Davidic kings, priests, prophets, and the whole population of Jerusalem (13:13). He will dash them together, parents with children, without pity or compassion (13:14). The drunkenness is judicial, the stupor of those made to drink God’s wrath, a recurring image in the prophets (Jeremiah 25:15-16; Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8). No class is exempt; leaders and people share the same verdict.
- Jeremiah 13:12-14 (BSB)“Therefore you are to tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’ And when they reply, ‘Don’t we surely know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem. I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’””The wineskin saying becomes a picture of God filling the whole land with the stupor of judgment.
- Jeremiah 25:15-16 (BSB)“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.””Jeremiah later receives the cup of wrath that makes the nations stagger, the same picture of judgment as drunkenness.
- Isaiah 51:17 (BSB)“Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.”Isaiah describes Jerusalem as having drained the LORD’s cup of fury until it staggered.
- Psalm 75:8 (BSB)“For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.”The psalmist pictures a cup in the LORD’s hand that all the wicked must drink.