Jeremiah 24:1–10

The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24^jAfter Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^kJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^lthe officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^mtwo baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. ²One basket had very good figs, ⁿlike first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^overy bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. ³And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁵“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^pwhom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ^6qI will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^rI will build them up, and not tear them down; ^sI will plant them, and not pluck them up. ^7tI will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, ^uand they shall be my people ^uand I will be their God, ^vfor they shall return to me with their whole heart.

⁸“But thus says the Lord: Like ^wthe bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^xZedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^ydwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will make them ^za horror¹ to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^aa reproach, ^ba byword, ^aa taunt, and ^ca curse in all the places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send ^dsword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”