Jeremiah 24

1 Yahweh shewed me, and lo! two baskets of figs, which had been set before the temple of Yahweh, —after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive, Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah and the carpenters and the smiths out of Jerusalem, and had brought them into Babylon: —

[The army of] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and his officials, and all his skilled workers [DOU] and took them to Babylon. After that happened, Yahweh gave me a vision. [In the vision] I saw two baskets of figs that had been placed in front of the temple.

2 the one basket, was of very good figs, like the first-ripe figs; and, the other basket, was of very bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness.

One basket was full of good figs, like the kind that ripen first. The other basket was filled with figs that were bad/rotten, with the result that they could not be eaten.

3 Then said Yahweh unto me, —What canst thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, for badness.

Then Yahweh said to me, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I replied, “[I see some] figs. Some are very good ones, but some are very bad, with the result that no one would eat them.”

4 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me, saying:

Then Yahweh gave me this message:

5 Thus, saith Yahweh God of Israel, Like these good figs, so, will I regard them of Judah who are carried into captivity, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

“This is what [I], Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli people [say that they worship], say: ‘The good figs represent [SIM] the people of Judah whom I exiled to Babylonia.

6 Therefore will I set mine eye upon them for good, and will bring them back upon this land, —and will build them up, and not pull them down, and will plant them and not root them up;

I [SYN] will (watch over/take care of) them well, and [some day] I will bring them back here [to Judah]. I will establish them and cause them to be strong. I will cause them to be prosperous [MET], and I will not exile them [again].

7 and will give them a heart to know, me, that, I, am Yahweh, So shall they become my people, And, I, will become their God; for they will return unto me with all their heart.

I will enable them to desire to know [IDM] that I am Yahweh. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me sincerely.’

8 And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, Surely thus, saith Yahweh—so, will I deliver up Zedekiah king of Judah, and his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them who are dwelling in the land of Egypt;

But [I], Yahweh, [also] say, ‘The bad figs represent [SIM] Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his officials, and all the [other] people who remain in Jerusalem, and those who have gone to Egypt. I will do to them like people do to rotten figs.

9 yea I will deliver them up, as a terror of calamity, to all the kingdoms of the earth, —as a reproach and as a byword, as a mockery and as a contempt, in every place whither I will drive them;

I will [get rid of them], with the result that people in every nation on the earth will be horrified, and will hate them because they are evil people. Wherever I scatter them, people will make fun of them, and say that they are disgraced, and ridicule them, and curse them.

10 and I will send among them, sword famine and pestilence, —until they are consumed from off the soil which I gave to them and to their fathers.

And I will cause them to experience wars and famines and diseases, until they have disappeared from this land which I gave to them and to their ancestors.’”