Jeremiah 24

1 Jehovah hath shewed me, and lo, two baskets of figs, appointed before the temple of Jehovah, — after the removing by Nebuchadrezzar 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 bringeth 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 In the one basket [are] figs very good, like the first-ripe figs, and in the other basket [are] figs very bad, that are not 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 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'What art thou seeing, Jeremiah?' and I say, 'Figs, the good figs [are] very good, and the bad [are] very bad, that are not 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 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

Then Yahweh gave me this message:

5 Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Like these good figs so do I acknowledge The removed of Judah — that I sent from this place, [To] 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 And I have set Mine eyes on them for good, And have brought them back to this land, And built them up, and I throw not down, And have planted them, and pluck not 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 have given to them a heart to know Me, For I [am] Jehovah, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, For they turned back 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, that are not eaten for badness, Surely thus said Jehovah: So do 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,

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 And I have given them for a trembling, For evil — to all kingdoms of the earth, For a reproach, and for a simile, For a byword, and for a reviling, In all the places whither I 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 have sent against them the sword, The famine and the pestilence, Till their consumption from off the ground, That 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.’”