God gave Jeremiah several symbolic acts to perform. God told Jeremiah to buy a new loincloth, wear it for a while, and then bury it by the Euphrates. Sometime later, God told Jeremiah to dig it up. The loincloth “was ruined and completely useless.” (NIV, Jeremiah 13:7) This symbolized the ruin of Israel and Judah.

God told Jeremiah not to marry or have children while in Judah. If Jeremiah did, they would suffer the same fate as everyone else. Furthermore, Jeremiah was not allowed to mourn the death of anyone. (Jeremiah 16:2–4)

God told Jeremiah to buy a plot of land in Judah as a symbolic gesture of confidence in the future of the people after the Babylonian captivity: “For this is what the LORD Almighty the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” (NIV, Jeremiah 32:15)