< Jeremiah 24 >
1 The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs [were] set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
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—
2 One basket [had] very good figs, [even] like the figs [that are] first ripe: and the other basket [had] very poor figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
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.
3 Then said the LORD to me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? and I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
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.”
4 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for [their] good.
“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.
6 For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up.
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.
7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I [am] the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
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.
8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
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,
9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for [their] hurt, [to be] a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
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.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.
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!”