Jeremiah 24
The Good and the Bad Figs
1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah ▼▼= Jehoiachin
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. 2 One 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 and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them. e 7I will give them a heart to know Me, f that I am ▼▼Yahweh/Yah: Or The Lord; the personal name of God in Hebrew; "Yah" is the shortened form of the name.
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. 10I will send the sword, famine, and plague m against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”
Copyright information for
HCSB