John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 13

Thus says the Lord to me
In a vision, and by the spirit of prophecy: when this was said is not certain, very likely in the reign of Jehoiakim; the prophet gives an account of what had been done, the present tense is put for the past.

Go and get yourself a linen girdle ;
or, "a girdle of linens" ^F12 ; a girdle made of flax or fine linen, which the prophet had not used to wear; and having none, is bid to go, perhaps from Anathoth to Jerusalem, to "get" one, or "buy" one: this girdle represents the people of the Jews in their more pure and less corrupted state, when they were a people near unto the Lord, and greatly regarded by him, and had a share in his affections; when they cleaved unto him, and served him, and were to his praise and glory: "and" or but do not put it in water
or, "do not bring it through it" ^F13 ; meaning either before he put it on your loins; and the sense is, that he was not to wash it, and whiten it, but to wear it just as it was wrought, signifying that those people were originally taken by the Lord of his own mercy, and without any merits of theirs, rough, unwashed, and unpolished as they were:

or else, after he had wore it, as Jarchi, when it was soiled with sweat; yet not to be washed, that it might rot the sooner: and so may design the corrupt and filthy state of this people, and the ruin brought thereby upon them, which was not to be prevented.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (Mytvp rwza) "cingulum linorum", Montanus.
• F13: (whabx al Mymbw) "sed per aquam non duces eam", Schmidt.

So I got a girdle Or, bought ^F14 a linen one, as directed: according to the word of the Lord; his express order and command; the prophet was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

and I put it on my loins; without washing it before or after, and wore it publicly for some time.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: (hnqaw) Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

And the word of the Lord The Targum is, "the word of prophecy from before the Lord:" came unto me the second time, saying; what distance of time there was between this order and the former is not known.

Take the girdle which you have got, which is upon your loins , and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock ; by the river side, where the waters, coming and going, would reach and wet it, and it drying again, would rot the sooner. This signifies the carrying of the Jews captive to Babylon, by which city the river Euphrates ran, and the obscure state and condition they would be in there; and where all their pride and glory would be marred, as afterwards declared.

So I went and hid it by Euphrates
Or, "in" ^F15 it; in a hole of the rock, upon the banks of it: as the Lord commanded me :
all this seems to be done not really, but visionally; it can hardly be thought that Jeremiah should be sent on two such long journeys, on such an account, which would take up a considerable time to perform it in; but rather that he went and came in like manner as Ezekiel did, in the visions of God, from Chaldea to Jerusalem, and from there to Chaldea again, (Ezekiel 8:3) (11:24) , and so Maimonides ^F16 was of opinion, as Kimchi on the place observes, that all this was done in a vision of prophecy.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (trpb) "in Euphrate", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin.
• F16: Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 46. p. 323.