Jeremiæ 24

1 Ostendit mihi Dominus: et ecce duo calathi pleni ficis, positi ante templum Domini, postquam transtulit Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis Iechoniam filium Ioakim regem Iuda, et principes eius, et fabrum, et inclusorem, de Ierusalem, et adduxit eos in Babylonem.

[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 Calathus unus ficus bonas habebat nimis, ut solent ficus esse primi temporis: et calathus unus ficus habebat malas nimis, quae comedi non poterant eo quod essent malae.

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 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Quid tu vides Ieremia? Et dixi: Ficus, ficus bonas, bonas valde: et malas, malas valde: quae comedi non possunt, eo quod sint malae.

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 Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

Then Yahweh gave me this message:

5 Haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel: Sicut ficus hae bonae: sic cognoscam transmigrationem Iuda, quam emisi de loco isto in Terram Chaldaeorum, in bonum.

“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 Et ponam oculos meos super eos ad placandum, et reducam eos in terram hanc: et aedificabo eos, et non destruam: et plantabo eos, et non evellam.

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 Et dabo eis cor ut sciant me, quia ego sum Dominus: et erunt mihi in populum, et ego ero eis in Deum: quia revertentur ad me in toto corde suo.

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 Et sicut ficus pessimae, quae comedi non possunt, eo quod sint malae: haec dicit Dominus, sic dabo Sedechiam regem Iuda, et principes eius, et reliquos de Ierusalem, qui remanserunt in urbe hac, et qui habitant in Terra Aegypti.

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 Et dabo eos in vexationem, afflictionemque omnibus regnis terrae: in opprobrium, et in parabolam, et in proverbium, et in maledictionem in universis locis, ad quae eieci eos.

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 Et mittam in eis gladium, et famem, et pestem: donec consumantur de terra, quam dedi eis, et patribus eorum.

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.’”