耶利米書 24
1 巴比倫王拿步高從耶路撒冷將猶大王約雅金的兒子耶苛尼雅和猶大的眾王侯，技工和鐵匠，擄到巴比倫去以後，上主使我見到一個神視：看，有兩筐無花果放在上主的殿前：
The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs [were] set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 一筐內裝的是很好的無花果，好像是初熟的無花果；另一筐內裝的卻是很壞的無花果，壞得幾乎不能吃。
One basket [had] very good figs, [even] like the figs [that are] first ripe: and the other basket [had] very poor figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 於是上主問我說：「耶肋米亞，你看見什麼﹖」我答說：「無花果：好的無花果實在好，壞的也實在壞，壞得至於不能吃。」
Then said the LORD to me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? and I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
4 那時，有上主的話傳給我說：「
Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 上主，以色列的天主這樣說：我要惠然眷顧，我從這裏遣往加色丁地去的猶大俘虜，像這些好無花果一樣；
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for [their] good.
6 好好照顧他們，領他們回到這地方來；從新建樹他們，不再拆毀；從新栽培他們，不再拔除；
For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up.
7 賦給他們一顆認識我的心，知道只有我是上主；他們要作我的人民，我要作他們的天主；因為他們要全心回頭歸向我。
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I [am] the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8 至於人怎樣對待那些壞的，壞得不可吃的無花果──上主這樣說──我也要怎樣對待猶大王漆德克雅和他的王侯，以及留在此地並住在埃及地的耶路撒冷遺民，
And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9 使他們成為地上各或恐怖的對象；在我驅逐他們所到的地方，成為人侮辱、譏笑、嘲弄和詛咒的對象；
And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for [their] hurt, [to be] a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10 給他們招來戰爭、饑荒和瘟疫，直到他們由我賜給他們和他們祖先的地上完全消滅。
And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.
