The Good and Bad Figs

1The Lord shewed me, and beholde, two baskets of figges were set before the Temple of the Lorde, after that Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel had caryed away captiue Ieconiah ye sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah, and the princes of Iudah with the workemen, and cunning men of Ierusalem, and had brought them to Babel. 2One basket had verie good figges, euen like the figges that are first ripe: and the other basket had verie naughtie figges, which could not be eaten, they were so euill. 3Then saide the Lorde vnto mee, What seest thou, Ieremiah? And I said, Figges: ye good figges verie good, & the naughtie verie naughtie, which cannot be eaten, they are so euill.

4Againe the worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 5Thus sayeth the Lorde, the God of Israel, Like these good figges, so will I knowe them that are caryed away captiue of Iudah to bee good, whome I haue sent out of this place, into the land of the Caldeans. 6For I wil set mine eyes vpon them for good, and I will bring them againe to this lande, and I will build them, and not destroy them, & I will plant them, and not roote them out, 7And I will giue them an heart to knowe me, that I am the Lord, & they shalbe my people, and I wil be their God: for they shal returne vnto mee with their whole heart.

8And as the naughtie figges which can not bee eaten, they are so euill (surely thus saith the Lorde) so wil I giue Zedekiah the King of Iudah, and his princes, and the residue of Ierusalem, that remaine in this lande, and them that dwell in the lande of Egypt: 9I will euen giue them for a terrible plague to all the kingdomes of the earth, and for a reproche, and for a prouerbe, for a common talke, and for a curse, in all places where I shall cast them. 10And I will sende the sworde, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they bee consumed out of the land, that I gaue vnto them and to their fathers.