New King James Version (NKJV)
Jeremiah 12
16 And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ’As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.
17 But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation," says the Lord.
Jeremiah 13
1 Thus the Lord said to me: "Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water."
2 So I got a sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying,
4 "Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock."
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there."
7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 "Thus says the Lord: ’In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.