Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ¹ 

He loosens ¹  the bonds ²  of kings and binds a loincloth ³  around their waist.

So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

So I bought the shorts as the Lord had told me to do ¹  and put them on. ² 

They replied, ¹  “He was a hairy man ²  and had a leather belt ³  tied around his waist.” The king ⁴  said, “He is Elijah the Tishbite.”

None tire or stumble, they don’t stop to nap or sleep. They don’t loosen their belts, or unstrap their sandals to rest. ¹ 

The Lord said to me, “Go and buy some linen shorts ¹  and put them on. ²  Do not put them in water.” ³ 

“Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing ¹  and go at once ²  to Perath. ³  Bury the shorts there ⁴  in a crack in the rocks.”

Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get ¹  the shorts I ordered you to bury there.”

wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians ¹  whose native land is Chaldea.

These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ¹  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ²  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ³  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.