Jeremiah Chapter 13
Verses 1-2: A “linen sash” was a fine cloth belt worn for decoration and sometimes used to temporarily secure the pulled-up hem of a man’s robe when he was running or needed freedom for his legs. The fact that it was made of linen meant it was valuable, not an everyday item of clothing. The garments of the priest were made from linen (Lev. 16:4), so this material also represented Israel’s consecration to the Lord.
Jeremiah 13:1 “Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.”
“A linen girdle”: One of several signs Jeremiah enacted to illustrate God’s message involved putting on a linen waistband (generally the inner garment against the skin). This depicted Israel’s close intimacy with God in the covenant, so that they could glorify Him (verse 11).
“Put it not in water”: Signified the moral filth of the nation. Buried and allowed time to rot (verse 7), the waistband pictured Israel as useless to God because of sin (verse 10). Hiding it by the Euphrates (verse 6), pointed to the land of Babylon where God would exile Israel to deal with her pride (compare verse 9).
The “girdle” that Jeremiah was to “put” on has been understood either as a sash worn as a belt, or a “linen” undergarment that stretched from the waist midway to the thighs.
Linen was the material the priest wore in the temple. Linen symbolized righteousness when it was clean and white. It appears this garment was intended to be worn next to his body. It perhaps was showing his closeness with God. It appears to me also, that a garment of this nature was not shared. It was private property. This is true with the garment of righteousness the Lord Jesus furnishes for each of us who are His. The fact that this garment might need washing indicates that it might be soiled.
Jeremiah 13:2 “So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put [it] on my loins.”
That is, according to God’s command.
“And put it on my loins”: And used it as God commanded me, never disputing the reason why God bid me do such a thing.
This just shows his total obedience to God. Notice he does not ask why he is to do this, he just does it.
Verses 3-7” Jeremiah buried the linen sash on the shore of the “Euphrates”, and a while later, God had him dig it back up. And “the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing”, except to demonstrate Jeremiah’s unquestioning obedience. Sometimes God does not reveal His plan until His servants have done what He commanded.
Jeremiah 13:3 “And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,”
No dates are given, but the implied interval must have been long enough for the girdle to become foul, while the prophet apparently waited for an explanation of the strange command.
God speaks to obedient children. He comes to give Jeremiah further directions here.
Verses 4-11: Jeremiah’s journey has been variously understood as a literal trip either
(1) To the western portion of the upper Euphrates River;
(2) To Ephrata (Bethlehem); or
(3) To Perah, three miles northeast of Anathoth.
Others consider the events here to have occurred in a vision or in some dramatic presentation. In any case, the lesson of the message is the same: as the “girdle” was “marred”, so God will “mar” (wound), Judah’s “pride”.
Jeremiah 13:4 “Take the girdle that thou hast got, which [is] upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.”
“Euphrates”: This refers literally to a site on the Euphrates River because:
(1) The Euphrates is the area of exile (20:4);
(2) “Many days” fits the round trip of well over 1,000 miles (verse 6); and
(3) The ruining of the nation’s pride (verse 9), relates to judgment by Babylon (verses 10-11).
In some sense, this girdle symbolizes the people of God. God had been close to them, as an inner garment is on a person. He had clothed them with His blessings. He had been their righteousness. This soiled girdle, spoke of God’s people who had soiled the righteousness God had given them. They had committed spiritual adultery. They had ruined their relationship with God. God now shows His putting them away through Jeremiah taking the soiled girdle, and hiding it in a hole in a rock. The hole in the rock symbolizes their captivity.
Jeremiah 13:5 “So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.”
In order to support the view that Jeremiah’s act was outward.
The Euphrates is specified as being near Babylon, the Jews future place of exile.
Again, we see total obedience on the part of Jeremiah. The Euphrates was speaking of a river in the east.
Jeremiah 13:6 “And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.”
When the girdle had lain long in the hole, by the side of Euphrates. This denotes the length of the Babylonish captivity, which was seventy years.
“That the Lord said unto me, arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there”: Which may denote the return of these people from captivity, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah (see Jer. 25:11). Though this seems to be visually done, in order to express the wretched state and condition these people were in. Either before the captivity, which was the cause of it; or at their return from it, when they were no better for it.
The “many days” the girdle was in the hole of the rock, symbolized the length of years they would remain captive. Just as Jeremiah would go and get the girdle, God would go and free His people from captivity.
Jeremiah 13:7 “Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.”
“And digged”: The hole, in process of time, being stopped up with soil or sand, that were thrown up over it. This digging was in a visionary way (see Ezek. 8:8).
“And took the girdle from the place where I had hid it”: Which he knew again by some token or another. Whether the prophet really made such a journey, or all this was but a vision, is very uncertain. When he came to the place, or in his vision, he thought, when he came to the place, that he saw all the girdle rotted. And good for nothing but to be thrown upon a dunghill.
The symbolism is explained in (Jer. 13:9). The girdle stained, decayed, worthless, was a parable of the state of Judah after the exile, stripped of all its outward greatness. Losing the place which it had once occupied among the nations of the earth.
This happens to show God’s people just how marred they are. They are really not worth saving. They have sinned so greatly following after false gods, that it is hard to understand why God would even want them back. The condition of the girdle and the condition of God’s straying people were the same.
Verses 8-11: Jeremiah’s linen belt vividly depicted the condition of God’s people, they had become “good for nothing”. Although the Lord once wore them with honor, they were no longer fit for such a task (Psalm 81:11).
Jeremiah 13:8 “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”
Or the word of prophecy from before the Lord, as the Targum. And now follows the application of this sign to the thing signified, and the whole intention of it is made known.
The Lord had not revealed to Jeremiah the whole plan all at once. It appears that God told him step by step as he needed to know.
Jeremiah 13:9 “Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.”
As this girdle has been hid in Euphrates, and has been marred and rendered useless. So in like manner, and by such like means:
“Will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem”: Or their glory, or excellency. That which they gloried in, and were proud of. Their city which was burnt, and their temple which was destroyed by the Chaldeans. Their king, princes, and nobles, who were carried captive into Babylon. By the river Euphrates, and stripped of all their grandeur, honor, and glory. And so the Targum, “so will I corrupt the strength of the men of Judah, and the strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which is much.” And to which agrees the Syriac version, which renders it, “the proud or haughty men of Judah, and the many haughty men of Jerusalem.”
God is showing Jeremiah with this girdle, what He plans to do with Judah and Benjamin. The Jews had been a very proud people. They had even shown their arrogance toward God, when they worshipped false gods. Now God is going to humble them, as this girdle was marred. Being in captivity to another has a way of humbling a person.
Jeremiah 13:10 “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”
Sent by the prophets, to whom they turned a deaf ear. And though they pressed them, and persistently desired them to give them a hearing, they refused it. And this showed them to be a bad people, very degenerate and wicked. And which further appears by what follows:
“Which walk in the imagination of their heart”: Which was evil, stubborn, and rebellious (see Jer. 7:24).
“And walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them”: Went to Egypt and Assyria to pay their adoration to those who were not by nature gods; and this was the cause of their ruin and destruction.
“Shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing”: As they were corrupt in their practices, and were become useless and unserviceable to God. So they would be carried captive into a foreign country, where they would be inglorious, and unprofitable, uncomfortable in themselves, and of no use to one another.
God’s people that He loved so much and had done so many wonderful things for, have turned against Him. They are evil people and worse than that, they will not take instruction from God. They are so proud of themselves, that they respect their own judgement over the judgement of God. This girdle Jeremiah went and got is good for nothing. God’s people are just as worthless as this girdle.
Jeremiah 13:11 “For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.”
Being girt tight unto him.
“So have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah”: Whom he chose above all people, and caused to approach unto him, and dwell in his courts. Whom he favored with his presence, and encouraged them to follow after him, and cleave to him in faith and affection, and with full purpose of heart. So that they were a people near unto him as a man’s girdle is to his loins. The end of this was, and would have been, had they continued so:
“That they might be unto me for a people”: His own people, a special and peculiar people above all others. Peculiarly favored and blessed by him, and continue so, and in the enjoyment of all good things.
“And for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory”: For a famous and renowned people, that should be to the praise and glory of God, and an honor to him, and an ornament to the profession of him. Whereas they were the reverse.
“But they would not hear”: The words of the Lord, nor obey his voice; but served other gods. Departed from the Lord, to whom they should have cleaved, and so became like this rotten girdle.
The girdle had been worn close to the wearer, just as God had been close to His people. God is speaking of all the 12 tribes of Israel here. The ten tribes were known as Israel and the 2 tribes were known as Judah. God had separated them from all the people of the world to be His peculiar people. He loved them as a father does a son. They were to represent Him to all the world. They were His glory and praise in the world. Now they have betrayed His trust in them. The love God had for them meant nothing to them. They would not listen. They had ears to hear, but they would not hear.
Verses 12-14: No doubt this reference to every “bottle” being “filled with wine” reflects a popular saying. The vine (together with the fig tree), symbolized the basic covenant between God and Israel and the attendant blessings of that spiritual relationship (compare Psalm 80:8-15; Micah 4:3-4; Zech. 3:10). Wine, the fruit of the vine, could signify God’s blessing on the fruitful life (Isa. 55:1; Joel 2:23-24), and was to be offered in the drink offering. Unfortunately, Israel had become an unfruitful vine (Isa. 5:2-6), and her people became drunkards (Isa. 5:11, 22; 28:7-8; 56:11-12), who must be constantly warned of the dangerous evils of drinking wine (Prov. 20:1; 23:29-35: Hosea 4:11; Micah 2:11).
Jeremiah condemned the drunken habits of the citizens of “Jerusalem” who had permitted a covenant symbol to be perverted into an evil so typical of the pagan societies around them. In the coming crisis, their “drunkenness” would dull their reactions when they needed to respond decisively. No wonder Paul urges the believer to “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess”: (Eph. 5:18).
The “filled” bottles represented the land, and the “wine” represented the suffering and humiliation that would follow (Psalm 75:8).
Jeremiah 13:12 “Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?”
God pictured inhabitants of Israel in Babylon’s invasion as Jugs or skins of wine. As wine caused drunkenness, they well be dazed, stumbling in darkness (compare verse 16), out of control, and victims of destruction (verse 14).
Jeremiah 13:13 “Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.”
Explaining the above words.
“Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land”: This is the application of the parable, and shows that by every bottle is meant every inhabitant of Judea.
Even the kings that sit upon David’s throne”: Or, “that sit for David on his throne”; that succeed him one after another. More kings may be meant than one, as Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Or the present reigning king, and the princes of the brood, are designed. Who, though of David’s family, and on his throne, yet this could not secure them from the calamity threatened.
“And the priests”: Who ministered in holy things”: Their sacred office and function would not preserve them from ruin.
“And the prophets”: The false prophets, as the Targum, that prophesied smooth things, and prophesied them peace and safety. These should be involved in the common destruction.
“And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness”: With tribulation, as the Targum interprets it; and adds, “and shall be like a drunken man;” giddy, stupid, unable to help themselves, or to advise one another.
It appears that all the kings that reigned during this terrible time were heavy drinkers. Even worse than that, the priests and prophets were too. This could also be speaking of the cup of the fury of God poured out upon them. Whatever is the case, they cannot help themselves much less their people.
Jeremiah 13:14 “And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.”
What a stunning picture of the awesome and fearful nature of God’s wrath, that those going through it would not experience any “pity, nor spare,”, or “have mercy” on their way to destruction!
God is saying He is bringing about their destruction. The cup of the LORD’s fury is so great against them that they will be destroyed.
Verses 15-17: A third illustration concerns a wary traveler in danger of being overtaken by the falling “darkness” of night. Such was Judah. It must renounce all “pride” and give God His rightful “glory” before the final darkness of national catastrophe engulfs it.
This extended passage describes the details of the tragedy that would befall Jerusalem. No one would be spared, from the “king” to the smallest member of the “flock”. Because of the persistent sins of many, all would suffer. When God passes judgment on an evil people, some who are innocent may well suffer and die with the rest.
Jeremiah 13:15 “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.”
Both to what goes before, and what follows after. The words doubled denote the closest and strictest attention.
“Be not proud”: Haughty, scornful, as above all instruction, and needing no advice and counsel. Self-conceited, despising the word of God, and his messages by his prophets. Or, “do not lift up yourselves”; above others, and against God.
“For the Lord hath spoken”: It is not I, but the Lord; and what he has said shall certainly come to pass. So the Targum, “for in the word of the Lord it is so decreed;” it is in vain to oppose him. His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. None ever hardened themselves against him, and prospered.
God is asking them one more time, to listen and understand before it is too late. It is also explained in this that this is not Jeremiah speaking to them, but the LORD through the mouth of Jeremiah. Some of them were far too proud to accept a message coming out of the mouth of a youth, as being from God. I can just hear them saying: Who does he think he is, telling us what to do?
Jeremiah 13:16 “Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross darkness.”
“Give glory to the Lord”: Show by repentance and obedience to God that you respect His majesty.
This is no time to be proud. Humble yourself and give glory to God. We either walk in God’s Light, or we walk in the darkness of the earth. Darkness is the absence of Light. When God removes the Light, the darkness comes. Physical darkness can cause you to stumble and fall, but the worst darkness of all is spiritual darkness. The darkness that God sent over Egypt as one of the 10 plagues, was so great you could feel the darkness. The gross darkness is so depressing that it might even cause death. The only way to do away with this type darkness, is repent of your sins and pray for the Light.
Jeremiah 13:17 “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for [your] pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.”
That is, if you will not listen to what I say, take heed to what I say, and obey the counsel which I give you. I shall seriously and secretly mourn for your rebellion and obstinacy, which is rooted in your pride, and lifting up yourselves against the Lord’s admonishing and counsels. And I shall also mourn for your calamity when it comes upon you. I shall have a personal and family concern with you, but that will not so much trouble me as to consider that you who are the church and people of God should be led into captivity.
Jeremiah is brought to weeping for the fate of these prideful people. The sheep belong to the great Shepherd. God will allow His people to go into captivity to make them realize how badly they need Him to save them.
Jeremiah 13:18 “Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [even] the crown of your glory.”
“King … the queen”: Jehoiachin and Nehushta, ca 597 B.C. (compare 22:24-26; 29:2; 2 Kings 24:8-17). Because the king was only 18 years old, she held the real power.
In the following two Scriptures, we see that the king was very young, and his mother was the queen instead of him having a wife who was queen. Jeremiah was the prophet in the land for both kings.
2 Kings 22:1 “Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.”
2 Kings 24:8 “Jehoiachin [was] eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name [was] Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.”
Jehoiachin reigned just a short time. It was during this period that Babylon captured them.
2 Kings 24:11-12 “And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.” “And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.”
Jeremiah 13:19 “The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.”
“Wholly carried away captive”: “All” and “wholly” do not require absolutely every individual, for Jeremiah elsewhere explains that some were to be slain and a remnant left in the land or fleeing to Egypt (Chapters 39-44).
We know from the Scripture (in 2 Kings above), that this prophecy was fulfilled. They were held captive in Babylon.
Jeremiah 13:20 “Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [is] the flock [that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?”
He speaks to them as if their enemy was even then upon their march, that if they did but look they might see him coming.
“Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” The prophet either speaks to the king, or to the rulers, or chief of the congregation of Judah. (Prov. 14:28). In the multitude of the people is the king’s honor. So in the multitude of subjects, or of members, lies much of the honor of a church or state.
This is speaking of the shepherd, who should have been watching the flock God had entrusted to him. The beautiful flock is speaking of God’s people.
Jeremiah 13:21 “What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? For thou hast taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?”
That is, thou wilt have nothing to say, but be wholly confounded and ashamed when God shall visit thee with this sore judgment. Or when Nebuchadnezzar’s army sent by God shall visit thee. For you, either by thy commerce and trading with them, or by your so often calling them to your assistance, or by thy idolatry borrowed from them, and other nations, hast taught them to be captains over thee. Thy sorrows and affliction will come upon thee suddenly and terribly, as pain cometh upon a woman in travail. Yea, and as certain also.
The punishment on these people who thought themselves above others, will come suddenly like a woman who is having a baby.
Verses 22-23: Deep-seated sin is about as easy to change as the color of one’s “skin” or a leopard’s “spots”. Only the One who makes us can make anyone whole again. Redemption requires surrender to God.
Jeremiah 13:22 “And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, [and] thy heels made bare.”
Not daring to express it with the mouth; and which, notwithstanding, God that knows the heart, was privy to, and could discern all the secret workings of it. Putting such a question as this.
“Wherefore come these things upon me?” All these calamities, the invasion and siege of the enemy, famine, sword, captivity etc. The answer returned is:
“For the greatness of thine iniquity”: The enormous crimes the Jews were guilty of, such as idolatry, blasphemy, etc. Which were attended with aggravated circumstances. Or, “for the multitude of thine iniquity”; their sins being so many, as well as great.
“Are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare”: Being obliged to walk naked and barefoot, their buttocks uncovered, and their legs and feet naked, without stockings or shoes. As captives used to be led, to their great shame and disgrace (see Isa. 20:2). The phrases are expressive of captivity, and the manner of it. The cause of which was the greatness and multitude of their sins. The Targum is, “because thy sins are multiplied, thy confusion is revealed, thy shame is seen.”
It is as if they had not been warned over and over. They act as if they did not deserve such punishment from God. Their sins are now out in the open. They cannot hide them under their skirts. They are barefoot, because they have been exposed.
Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? [then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”
“Ethiopian … leopard”: The vivid analogy assumes that sinners cannot change their sinful natures. Only God can change the heart (31:18; 31-34).
The Ethiopian was born with black skin. The leopard is born with spots. Man is born with a sinful nature. The natural thing for a man to do is sin. God wants His people to be peculiar to the world. They are no longer to be controlled by their flesh, or their nature they are born with. Those who belong to God are of spirit, not flesh.
Jeremiah 13:24 “Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.”
Because of their many sins, and continuance in them. Their habits and custom of sinning, they are threatened with being carried captive into other nations. Where they should be dispersed and separated one from another, which would make their state and condition very uncomfortable. And this would be as easily and as swiftly done as the light stubble which is blown away by every puff of wind. Nor would they be able any more to resist the enemy, and help themselves, than the stubble is to stand before the wind as follows.
“By the wind of the wilderness”: Which blows freely and strongly. So the Chaldean army is compared to a dry wind of the high places in the wilderness, even a full wind that should scatter and destroy (Jer. 4:11). Or, “to the wind of the wilderness”; and so may denote the wilderness of the people, or the land of Babylon, where they should be carried captive. And from where the wind should come that should bring them to that place.
Since their nature is to sin and they have not risen above that nature, God will scatter them until they call out to Him. If they are wild let them live in the wilderness.
Jeremiah 13:25 “This [is] thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
Meaning not the king’s, or the queen’s only, but the lot of the whole Jewish state.
“The portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord”: Which were divided and distributed, and measured out to them by the Lord. Who appointed these calamities to befall them, and brought them upon them, and that in righteous judgment. The Targum is, “and the portion of thine inheritance;” who, instead of having the land of Canaan for their inheritance, to which the allusion is, and of which they boasted, the land of Babylon was assigned them. Not to be possessors of it, but captives in it. And instead of having God to be their portion and inheritance, they were banished from him, and this was but righteous measure. They had measure for measure.
“Because thou hast forgotten me”: Their Maker and Benefactor. The goodness he had shown them, the mercies and benefits he had bestowed upon them. Or, “my law”, as the Arabic version. Or, “my worship”, as the Targum. Therefore, he forgot them, took no notice of them, hid his face from them, and gave them up into the hands of their enemies.
“And trusted in falsehood”: Either in the Egyptians and Assyrians, who deceived them; or in their idols. Which were falsehood and lying vanities, and could not help them.
They had followed the desires of their flesh and worshipped false gods. God gives them exactly what they deserve. They will not be treated as God’s spirit people. They will go the way of all flesh. They will not have God’s protection any longer.
Jeremiah 13:26 “Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.”
“Discover thy skirts”: Turn them up, or throw them over the head or face. That is, expose to public shame and disgrace; which was done when their city and temple were burnt, and they were carried captive. This was done to shame captive women and prostitutes (compare Nahum 3:5).
“That thy shame may appear”: That their sins might appear to themselves and others, of which they had reason to be ashamed. The allusion is to the treatment which captive women sometimes meet with, or adulterous women, to which the Jews are here compared. The Targum is, “and I also will reveal the confusion of thy sin upon thy face, and thy shame shall be seen.”
They will be red-faced with embarrassment. Their sins are made public.
Jeremiah 13:27 “I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, [and] thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?”
“Thy neighings”: Refers to desire at an animal level, without conscience.
Nothing was hidden from God’s sight (Heb. 4:13). Despite a depraved condition that would sicken some people into repentance, the people were asked: “wilt thou not be made clean”.
Jeremiah, and God through Jeremiah are saying to this people; “I know all your sins, when will you repent and be saved?” It is as if God is pleading with them to repent from their sins, and let Him cleanse them. He offers them redemption. Why will they not accept it?