The Two Fig Baskets
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.’ ”
Footnotes
- 24:1 Masoretic Text “Jeconiah,” an alternate form of Jehoiakin.