24
1 The
LORD showed me,
and behold, two
baskets of figs
were set before
the LORD’s temple,
after Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon
had carried away
captive Jeconiah
the son of
Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, and the
princes of Judah,
with the craftsmen
and smiths, from
Jerusalem, and had
brought them
to Babylon.
2 One
basket had very
good figs, like
the figs that
are first-ripe; and
the other basket
had very bad
figs, which could
not be eaten, they
were so bad.
3 Then
the LORD asked
me, “What do
you see, Jeremiah?”
I said, “Figs.
The good figs
are very good,
and the bad
are very bad,
so bad that
they can’t
be eaten.”
4 The
LORD’s word came
to me, saying,
5 “The
LORD, the God
of Israel says: ‘Like
these good figs,
so I will
regard the
captives of Judah,
whom I have sent
out of this
place into the
land of the
Chaldeans, as good.
6 For
I will set
my eyes on
them for good,
and I will
bring them again
to this land. I
will build them,
and not pull
them down. I
will plant them,
and not pluck
them up.
7 I
will give them
a heart to
know me, that
I am the
LORD. They will
be my people,
and I will
be their God;
for they will
return to me
with their whole
heart.
8 “ ‘As
the bad figs,
which can’t
be eaten, they are
so bad,’ surely
the LORD says, ‘So
I will give
up Zedekiah the
king of Judah,
and his princes,
and the remnant
of Jerusalem who
remain in
this land, and
those who dwell
in the land of
Egypt.
9 I
will even give
them up to
be tossed back and
forth among all
the kingdoms of
the earth for evil,
to be a
reproach and a
proverb, a taunt
and a curse,
in all places
where I will
drive them.
10 I
will send the
sword, the famine,
and the pestilence
among them, until
they are consumed
from off the land
that I gave
to them and
to their fathers.’ ”