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.

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.

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.”

4 Then Yahweh gave me this message:

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.

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].

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.’

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.

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.

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.’”