Jeremiah 24

1 [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.

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 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.

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 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.”

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 Then Yahweh gave me this message:

The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

5 “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.

“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 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].

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 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.’

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 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.

“‘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 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.

I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth amongst 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 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.’”

I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence amongst them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”