Jeremiah 13 Study Notes

13:1-2 The Lord told Jeremiah to purchase a new linen undergarment. This item of clothing extended from the waist to the thighs. The Hebrew word ’ezor has been translated as “girdle” (KJV, NEB), “waistcloth” (RSV), and “loincloth” (JB). But it was made of valuable linen, material usually reserved for priests (Lv 16:4).

13:3-7 Jeremiah was then instructed to take the underwear he had bought and was wearing and hide it in a rocky crevice along the Euphrates River, which lay about 350 miles northeast of Anathoth—a round trip journey of 700 miles. The Hebrew word for the Euphrates is perath. Another site, using the same word, perath, was a spring at Wadi Farah, about four miles northeast of doomed Anathoth. Since the Hebrew names for both sites are the same, each suggests that destruction (symbolized by the ruined underwear, v. 7) would come from the region of the Euphrates River.

13:8-10 God’s interpretation of this symbolic action was: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem. Thus, the nation had gone from being untarnished when she was called as God’s bride (2:2-3) to being rotten and useless because of her sinfulness.

13:11 The nation of Judah had previously clung to the Lord’s waist as people whom he called my people for my fame, praise, and glory. But they would be removed just as Jeremiah’s underwear was taken into Babylonian-controlled territory and ruined.

13:12-14 God had Jeremiah announce a common proverb: Every jar should be filled with wine. The people’s derisive reply was essentially, “Why of course, what do you think those jars are for anyway?” But the metaphor meant that the people themselves were the earthen jars that should be filled with wine. Everyone from the top of society to the bottom would be filled with drunkenness, or the wrath of God (25:15-16,27). God would smash these jars.

13:15-17 The word pride ties this section together with the two parables in vv. 1-11, even though two different Hebrew words are used with the same meaning. Judah was guilty of self-exaltation, haughtiness, and high-mindedness. She would not heed God’s directives.

13:16 The nation of Judah is depicted as a weary traveler on a mountain caught in the dark, stumbling about, anxious for the dawn, and accepting directions from no one—not even God. The command to give glory to the Lord your God can be a call to confess one’s sins (Jos 7:19; Jn 9:24). Unless Judah confessed, even darker days lay ahead.

13:18 The Lord commanded Jeremiah to address the king (Jehoiachin) and his queen mother, Queen Nehushta, who were deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC (2Kg 24:8-15). Jehoiachin was only eighteen years old when he ascended the throne for a short rule of three months. His mother probably exerted a lot of influence over him. Neither of them was receptive to God’s call through the prophet.

13:19 Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will strike the cities of south Judah, the Negev first. But eventually all of Judah will be taken into exile. The words “all” and “taken completely into exile” are hyperbolic. The Babylonians did leave a remnant along with Jeremiah in the land (39:9-10).

13:20 The verbs look up and see are feminine imperatives. They are addressed to Jerusalem, who as a shepherd had abandoned her flock and sheep, misleading the people.

13:21 The Hebrew word for leaders (ro’sh) has a twofold sense—“head/chief” and “a poisonous plant/poison.” Accordingly, Judah’s self-chosen allies will become not just their chiefs but their poison as well.

13:22 In answer to Jerusalem’s question about why these things happened, God pointed to their great guilt. Speaking euphemistically, God promised to expose Judah’s secret parts (politely expressed as your skirts have been stripped off, i.e., they will be sexually attacked; see Lv 18:6-19; 20:17; Dt 22:30). Your body exposed is literally “your heels have suffered violence,” another euphemism for sexual attack.

13:23-24 The question Can the Cushite (a Nubian or an Ethiopian) change his skin, or a leopard his spots? anticipates a negative answer. It was unlikely that Judah would change after centuries of acting in such an evil way.

13:25 Lot or “inheritance” is most commonly used for the portion of the land each family of Israel was to receive after the conquest of Canaan (Nm 26:55-56). But no portion was reserved for this rebellious generation. Instead God scattered them abroad in exile (Jr 13:24). Judah had trusted in lies or the Lie, a derisive term for the pagan gods, especially Baal.

13:26 On I will pull your skirts up over your face, see note at v. 22. Judah’s shame will be exposed.

13:27 This verse cites three sexual descriptions of Judah’s wickedness: adulteries . . . lustful neighing, and prostitution. These refer to the people’s practices out in the open as they went after sex with an animalistic passion in their worship of Canaanite gods.