Jeremiah 23:35-24:10

New King James Version

³⁵ Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ And the ^[a]oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have ^(A)perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ But since you say, ‘The ^[b]oracle of the Lord!’ therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ³⁹ therefore behold, I, even I, ^(B)will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰ And I will bring ^(C)an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual ^(D)shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

24 The ^(E)Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar ^(F)king of Babylon had carried away captive ^(G)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so ^(H)bad. ³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

⁴ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I ^[c]acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and ^(I)I will bring them back to this land; ^(J)I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. ⁷ Then I will give them ^(K)a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be ^(L)My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me ^(M)with their whole heart.

⁸ ‘And as the bad ^(N)figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the ^(O)residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and ^(P)those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will deliver them to ^(Q)trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, ^(R)to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are ^[d]consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”