Baskets of Figs and the Returnees

1 After aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me: behold, two bbaskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord!

2 One basket had very good figs, like afirst-ripe figs, and the other basket had bvery bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.

3 Then the Lord said to me, “aWhat do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard aas good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

6 ‘For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will abring them again to this land; and I will bbuild them up and not overthrow them, and I will cplant them and not pluck them up.

7 ‘I will give them a aheart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be bMy people, and I will be their God, for they will creturn to Me with their whole heart.

8 ‘But like the abad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the Lord—so I will 1abandon bZedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the cremnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of dEgypt.

9 ‘I will amake them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a breproach and a proverb, a taunt and a ccurse in all places where I will scatter them.

10 ‘I will send the asword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’ ”

Chapter 25

Prophecy of the Captivity

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the afourth year of bJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the cfirst year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the apeople of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

3 “From the athirteenth year of bJosiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, 1these ctwenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you 2dagain and again, but you have not listened.

4 “And the Lord has sent to you all His aservants the prophets 1again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

5 saying, ‘aTurn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers bforever and ever;

6 and ado not go after other gods to 1serve them and to 2worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’

7 “Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord, “in order that you might aprovoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

9 behold, I will asend and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, bMy servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will 1utterly destroy them and cmake them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

10 ‘Moreover, I will 1atake from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the bsound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 ‘aThis whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon bseventy years.

Babylon Will Be Judged

12 ‘Then it will be awhen seventy years are completed I will bpunish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and cI will make it an everlasting desolation.

13 ‘I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in athis book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ball the nations.