Jeremiah 24

Two baskets of figs

1The LORD showed me two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD. This was after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with Judah's officials, craftworkers, and smiths, from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. 2One basket held very good figs, like the first ripe figs. The other held very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. 3The LORD asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs. The good ones are very good, and the bad ones are very bad—so bad they cannot be eaten.”

The meaning of the figs

4Then the word of the LORD came to me: 5“The LORD, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, I will regard with favor the exiles from Judah whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6I will set my eyes on them for good and bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7I 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 like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten, says the LORD, so I will treat Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those left in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. 9I will make them an object of horror and harm among all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in every place where I drive them. 10I will send sword, famine, and plague against them until they are gone from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”