Jeremiah 24:2-10 ▼

2 One basket had very good figs, like figs that ripen first. The other basket had very bad figs. These figs were so bad that they couldn't be eaten.

3 Then the LORD asked me, |What do you see, Jeremiah?| I answered, |Figs. Figs that are very good. I also see figs that are very bad, so bad that they can't be eaten.|

4 The LORD spoke his word to me,

5 |This is what the LORD God of Israel says: The captives of Judah, whom I sent away from here to Babylon, are like these good figs. I will look kindly on them.

6 I will watch over them for their own 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 the desire to know that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will wholeheartedly come back to me.

8 |But this is what the LORD says about the bad figs that are so bad that they can't be eaten. The LORD says, 'Like these bad figs, I will abandon King Zedekiah of Judah, his princes, the remaining few in Jerusalem who stayed behind in this land, and those who are living in Egypt.

9 I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them.

10 I will send wars, famines, and plagues until they disappear from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.'|