Jeremiah 24
Expanded Bible
The Good and Bad Figs
24 Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ·captured [exiled] ·Jehoiachin [Jeconiah] son of Jehoiakim and king of Judah, his officers, and all the craftsmen and metalworkers of Judah [C 597 bc]. He took them away from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. It was then that the Lord showed me two baskets of figs [C a symbol of fruitfulness (Hos. 9:11) and shelter (Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10)] arranged in front of the Temple of the Lord. 2 One of the baskets had very good figs in it, like figs that ripen ·early in the season [first]. But the other basket had figs too rotten to eat.
3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I answered, “I see figs. The good figs are very good, but the rotten figs are too rotten to eat.”
4 Then the Lord spoke his word to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I sent the people of Judah out of their country to live in the country of Babylon. I ·think of [regard] those people as good, like these good figs. 6 I will ·look after them [L set my eyes on them for good] and ·bring them back [return them] to this land [C of Judah]. I will not tear them down, but I will build them up. I will not pull them up, but I will plant them [C so they can grow]. 7 I will ·make them want [L give them a heart] to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with their whole hearts.
8 “‘But the bad figs are too rotten to eat.’ So this is what the Lord says: ‘Zedekiah king of Judah [C ruled 597–586 bc], his officers, and all the people from Jerusalem who are left alive, even those who live in Egypt, will be like those rotten figs. 9 I will make those people ·hated [a horror; abhorrent] as an evil people by all the kingdoms of the earth. ·People will make fun of them and tell jokes about them and point fingers at them and curse them [L …a reproach, a proverb/byword, a taunt, a curse] everywhere I ·scatter [drive] them. 10 I will send ·war [sword], ·hunger [famine], and ·disease [pestilence] against them. ·I will attack them until they have all been killed. Then they will no longer be in [L …until they have been annihilated from] the land I gave to them and their ·ancestors [fathers].’”
Jeremiah 24
New American Standard Bible
Baskets of Figs and the Returnees
24 After (A)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me: behold, two (B)baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, like (C)first-ripe figs, and the other basket had (D)very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then the Lord said to me, “(E)What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad ones, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard (F)as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will (G)bring them back to this land; and I will (H)build them up and not overthrow them, and I will (I)plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will also give them a (J)heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be (K)My people, and I will be their God, for they will (L)return to Me wholeheartedly.
8 ‘But like the (M)bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness,’ indeed, this is what the Lord says, ‘so will I give up (N)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the (O)remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and the ones who live in the land of (P)Egypt. 9 I will (Q)make them an object of terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a (R)disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a (S)curse in all the places where I will scatter them. 10 And I will send the (T)sword, the famine, and the plague upon them until they are eliminated from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’”
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New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
