CHAPTER 24
After
Nebuchadnezzar
king
of Babylon
had carried away
Jeconiah
son
of Jehoiakim
king
of Judah,
the officials
of Judah,
and the craftsmen
and metalsmiths
from Jerusalem,
and had brought
them to Babylon,
the LORD
showed
me two
baskets
of figs
placed
in front of
the temple
of the LORD.
One
basket
had very
good
figs,
like those that ripen early,
but the other
basket
contained very
poor
figs,
so bad
they could not
be eaten.
“Jeremiah,”
the LORD
asked,
“what
do you
see?”
“Figs!”
I replied.
“The good
figs
are very
good,
but the bad figs
are very
bad,
so bad
they cannot
be eaten.”
“This is what
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
says:
‘Like these
good
figs,
so
I regard
as good
the exiles
from Judah,
whom
I have sent away
from
this
place
to the land
of the Chaldeans.
I will keep
My eyes
upon
their good
and will return
them to
this
land.
I will build them up
and not
tear them down;
I will plant
them and not
uproot them.
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 all
their heart.
But like the bad
figs,
so bad
they cannot
be eaten,
says
the LORD,
so
I will deal with
Zedekiah
king
of Judah,
his officials,
and the remnant
of Jerusalem—
those remaining
in this
land
and those living
in the land
of Egypt.
I will make
them
a horror
and an offense
to all
the kingdoms
of the earth,
a disgrace,
an object of scorn,
ridicule,
and cursing,
wherever
I have banished them.
And I will send
the sword,
famine,
and plague
against them,
until they have perished
from
the land
I gave
to them
and their fathers.’”