Jeremiah 24

1 YHWH has showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs, appointed before the temple of YHWH—after the removing by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the heads of Judah, and the artisan, and the smith, from Jerusalem, when he brings them into Babylon—

Yahweh showed me something. Behold, two baskets of figs were placed before Yahweh's temple. (This vision happened after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took into exile Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the officials of Judah, the craftsmen and the metalworkers from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon.)

2 In one basket [are] very good figs, like the first-ripe figs, and in the other basket [are] very bad figs that are not eaten because of badness.

One basket of figs was very good, like first ripe figs, but the other basket of figs was so very bad that they could not be eaten.

3 And YHWH says to me, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I say, “Figs, the good figs [are] very good, and the bad [are] very bad, that are not eaten because of badness.”

Yahweh said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs. Figs that are very good and figs that are so very bad they cannot be eaten.”

4 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

5 “Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Like these good figs so I acknowledge The expulsion of Judah that I sent from this place, [To] the land of the Chaldeans—for good.

“Yahweh, God of Israel, says this: I will look on the exiles of Judah for their benefit, just like these good figs, the exiles whom I have sent out from this place to the land of Chaldea.

6 And I have set My eyes on them for good, And have brought them back to this land, And built them up, and I do not throw down, And have planted them, and do not pluck up.

I will set my eyes on them for good and restore them to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down. I will plant them, and not uproot them.

7 And have given to them a heart to know Me, For I [am] YHWH, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, For they turned back to Me with all their heart.

Then I will give them a heart to know me, for I am Yahweh. They will be my people and I will be their God, so they will turn to me with all their heart.

8 And like the bad figs that are not eaten for badness, Surely thus said YHWH: So I make Zedekiah king of Judah, And his heads, and the remnant of Jerusalem, Who are left in this land, And who are dwelling in the land of Egypt,

But like the bad figs that are too bad to be eaten—this is what Yahweh says—I will act in this way with Zedekiah, king of Judah, with his officials, and with the rest of Jerusalem who remain in this land or go to stay in the land of Egypt.

9 And I have given them for a trembling, For evil—to all kingdoms of the earth, For a reproach, and for an allegory, For a byword, and for a reviling, In all the places to where I drive them.

I will turn them into a frightening thing, a disaster, in the sight of all the kingdoms on earth, a disgrace and a subject for proverbs, taunts, and curses in every place where I will have driven them.

10 And I have sent the sword against them, The famine and the pestilence, Until their consumption from off the ground, That I gave to them and to their fathers!”

I will send out sword, famine, and plague against them, until they are destroyed from the land that I gave them and their ancestors.”