Two Baskets of Figs
1 After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of
Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the
artisans of Judah were carried into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs
placed in front of the temple the LORD. 2 One basket
had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other
basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
3 Then the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good,
but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 5 "This is
what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good
figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I
sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.
6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will
bring them back to this land. I will build them up and
not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
7 I 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 all their heart.
8 "But like the bad figs, which are so bad they
cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, 'so will I deal with
Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors
from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live
in Egypt. 9 I will make them abhorrent and an offense to
all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword,
a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them.
10 I will send the sword, famine and plague against them
until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and
their ancestors.' "