⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the ^[a]sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

¹¹ who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.

Tasteless Salt Is Worthless^(A)

^34 (B)“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor for the ^[a]dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

³ Now Joshua was clothed with ^(A)filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.

⁴ Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, ^(B)and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

³ Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? ⁴ Instead, ^(A)it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work? ⁵ Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

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.

⁸ ‘And as the bad ^(J)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 ^(K)residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and ^(L)those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ This evil people, who ^(A)refuse to hear My words, who ^(B)follow^[a] the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.