Jeremiah

Chapter 24

1 God showed me two baskets of figs in front of the temple. This was after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away Jeconiah, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the Judah leaders, carpenters, and metalworkers from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, just like the first ripe ones, and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because they were so bad.

3 Then God 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 can’t be eaten.”

4 God spoke to me again, saying,

5 God, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, I will recognize the people from Judah that I have sent away as captives to the land of the Chaldeans for their own good.

6 I will watch over them for their good and bring them back to this land. I will rebuild them 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 God; they will be my people, and I will be their God because they will come back to me with all their heart.

8 Like the bad figs that are too rotten to eat, this is what God says: I will do the same to Zedekiah king of Judah, his leaders, the rest of Jerusalem who stay in this land, and those living in Egypt.

9 I will let them be taken to all the kingdoms of the earth to their harm, to be mocked and used in sayings, to be insulted and cursed, wherever I send them.

10 I will send war, hunger, and disease among them until they are wiped from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.