Jeremiah 24

THE GOOD AND THE BAD FIGS

24After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported Jeconiah^D son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths^b from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs^c placed in front of the temple of the Lord. ²One basket contained very good figs, like early figs,^d but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. ³The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”

⁴The word of the Lord came to me: ⁵“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶I will keep my eyes on them for their good^e and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.^{f 7}I will give them a heart to know me,^g that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart.^h

⁸“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible,ⁱ this is what the Lord says: In this way I will deal with King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land or living in the land of Egypt.^{j 9}I will make them an object of horror^k and a disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, an example for disgrace, scorn, ridicule,^l and cursing, wherever I have banished them.^{m 10}I will send the sword, famine, and plagueⁿ against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”