The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

24 (A)After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem (B)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with (C)the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, (D)two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs, (E)like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had (F)very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, (G)whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. (H)I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. (I)I will build them up, and not tear them down; (J)I will plant them, and not pluck them up. (K)I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, (L)and they shall be my people (M)and I will be their God, (N)for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

“But thus says the Lord: Like (O)the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat (P)Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who (Q)dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them (R)a horror[a] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be (S)a reproach, (T)a byword, (U)a taunt, and (V)a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send (W)sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 24:9 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew horror for evil

24 Hashem showed me, and, hinei, two baskets of figs were set in front of the Heikhal Hashem; after that Nevuchadretzar Melech Bavel had carried away into the Golus Melech Yehudah Yechanyah ben Y’hoyakim, and the sarim (princes) of Yehudah, with the craftsmen and artisans, from Yerushalayim, and had brought them to Babylon.

One basket had figs tovot me’od, even like the figs that are early ripening; and the other basket had figs ra’ot me’od, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

Then said Hashem unto me, What seest thou, Yirmeyah? And I answered, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten they are so bad.

Again the Devar Hashem came unto me, saying,

Thus saith Hashem Elohei Yisroel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that of Yehudah are carried away unto the Golus, whom I have sent out of this place into the Eretz Kasdim (Chaldeans) for their good.

For I will set mine eyes over them for tovah, and I will bring them again to ha’aretz hazot; and I will build them up, and not tear them down; and I will plant them, and not uproot them.

And I will give them a lev to have da’as of me, that I am Hashem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim; for they shall return unto Me with all their lev.

And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus saith Hashem, So will I give Tzidkiyah Melech Yehudah, and his sarim (princes), and the she’erit Yerushalayim, that remain in ha’aretz hazot, and them that dwell in Eretz Mitzrayim;

And I will deliver them for abhorrence, for an offense to kol mamlechot ha’aretz to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a kelalah (curse) in all places where I shall drive them.

10 And I will send the cherev, the ra’av (famine), and the dever (pestilence), among them, until they are consumed from off ha’aretz that I gave unto them and to their avot.