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—

The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the LORD’s temple, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had 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 had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

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.”

Then the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that they can’t be eaten.”

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

The LORD’s word 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.

“The LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Kasdim, as good.

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.

For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

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.

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 their whole 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,

“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely the LORD says, ‘So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell 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 even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive 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 the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”