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.
Ver. 1. Go, get thee a linen girdle.] Or, Belt, or swath.
And put it not in water.] Or, Lye, to wash it or whiten it; but take it as it is first made, Ut sorditiem magis contrahat, to show, say some, that the Jewish nation, when first chosen, was black by sin and nothing amiable; better skilled and exercised in making mortar and bricks in Egypt than in the worship of God and in good manners.
Or put it not in water,] i.e., Keep it from being rotted, as a type of God's care of, and kindness to, that people.