< Jeremiah 24 >

1 The Lord caused me to see, and, behold, there were two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon had carried away into exile Yechonyahu the son of Yehoyakim the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and the locksmiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
The Lord showed me two baskets of figs, lying in front of the temple of the Lord, after Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried captive Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda, and the princes, and the artificers, and the prisoners, and the rich men out of Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 The one basket [had] very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket [had] very bad figs, which could not be eaten, from being so bad.
The one basket was [full] of very good figs, as the early figs; and the other basket was [full] of very bad figs, which could not be eaten, for their badness.
3 Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs, are very good; and the bad ones, are very bad, which cannot be eaten, from being so bad.
And the Lord said to me, What see you, Jeremias? and I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which can’t be eaten, for their badness.
4 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 Thus hath said the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel; As these good figs, so will I acknowledge the Jews that have been carried away captive, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for good.
6 And I will set my eye upon them for good, and I will cause them to return again to this land; and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
And I will fix mine eyes upon them for good, and I will restore them into this land for good: and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be unto me for a people, and I will be unto them for God! for they will return unto me with all their heart.
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God: for they shall turn to me with all their heart.
8 And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, from being so bad, surely thus hath said the Lord, So I will render Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those that dwell in the land of Egypt;
And as the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, for their badness; thus says the Lord, So will I deliver Sedekias king of Juda, and his nobles, and the remnant of Jerusalem, them that are left in this land, and the dwellers in Egypt.
9 And I will make them a horror because of [their] mishaps unto all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and a proverb, a byword and a curse, in all the places whither I will drive them.
And I will cause them to be dispersed into all the kingdoms of the earth, and they shall be for a reproach, and a proverb, and an [object of] hatred, and a curse, in every place whither I have driven them out.
10 And I will send out against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, till they be destroyed from off the land that I had given unto them and to their fathers.
And I will send against them famine, and pestilence, and the sword, until they are consumed from off the land which I gave them.

< Jeremiah 24 >