Jeremiah 24:1–25:14
24 Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed ⌊before⌋a the temple of Yahweh—after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths,b from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon. 2 The one basket had very good figs, like ⌊early figs⌋,c and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because of their bad quality. 3 And Yahweh asked me, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs—the good figs, very good, and the bad figs, very bad, that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality.”
4 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, ⌊saying⌋,d 5 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exilese of Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set my eyesf on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them and not annihilate them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh, and ⌊they will be my people⌋,g and ⌊I will be their God⌋,h for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.
8 But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality—for thus says Yahweh—so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. 9 And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them. 10 And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, until they perish from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.’ ”i
25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ⌊saying⌋,a 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three yearsb the word of Yahweh has come to me, and ⌊I have spoken to you over and over again⌋,c but you have not listened. 4 And though Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you ⌊over and over again⌋d you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear, 5 ⌊saying⌋,e ‘Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestorsf from a long time back and until forever, 6 and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.’ 7 ‘Yet you have not listened to me,’ ⌊declares⌋g Yahweh, ‘so that youh have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.’
8 ⌊Therefore⌋i thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 look, I am going to send and take all the clansj of the north,’ ⌊declares⌋k Yahweh, ‘and I will sendl to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and ⌊everlasting ruins⌋.m 10 And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.n
12 ⌊And then⌋o when the seventy yearsp are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ ⌊declares⌋q Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it ⌊an everlasting waste⌋.r 13 And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.’ ”