The Responsibility of the Prophet

3 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; ^(A)eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

⁹ So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.”

And he said to me, ^(A)“Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

¹⁰ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, ^(B)and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, ^(C)my stomach became bitter.

^17 (A)“Son of man, I have made you ^(B)a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them ^(C)warning from Me: ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man ^(D)shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; ^(E)but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ “Again, when a ^(F)righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”

⁸ But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and ^(A)eat what I give you.”

⁹ Now when I looked, there was ^(B)a hand stretched out to me; and behold, ^(C)a scroll of a book was in it.

¹⁵ Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.

¹⁵ Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and ^(A)I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

24 The ^(A)Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar ^(B)king of Babylon had carried away captive ^(C)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 ^(D)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 ^[a]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 ^(E)I will bring them back to this land; ^(F)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 ^(G)a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be ^(H)My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me ^(I)with their whole heart.

¹⁰ Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ^(A)‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”

³ And He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has ^(A)rebelled against Me; ^(B)they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.