The ruined girdle (13:1–11) is the first of several sign acts, dramatized attention-getters, for people who have stopped listening. Sign acts consist of a divine command, the report of compliance, and an explanation. The girdle, or loincloth (Hebrew ezor), is more than a belt; it is like a short skirt that reaches down to the knees but hugs the waist. Jeremiah’s symbolic act has a double message, the first of which is the evil of pride. God detests pride (2 Chron. 32:24–26; Prov. 8:13). Arrogance, an exaggerated estimate of oneself, brings the disdain of others and accounts for the evils of verse 10. Second, the sign act pictures the way in which God would take proper pride in Israel, who, like the girdle w…