The Good and the Bad Figs

1After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah a son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths b from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs c placed before the temple of the LORD. 2One basket contained very good figs, like early figs, d but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. 3The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah? ” I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”

4The word of the LORD came to me: 5“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6I will keep My eyes on them for their good e and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them. f 7I will give them a heart to know Me, g that I am ^•Yahweh. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart. h

8“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, i this is what the LORD says: in this way I will deal with king Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem — those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. j 9I will make them an object of horror k and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, l and cursing, wherever I have banished them. m 10I will send the sword, famine, and plague n against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”