The Good and the Bad Figs

24 After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported Jeconiah^[a] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths^(A) from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs^(B) placed in front of the temple of the Lord. ² One basket contained very good figs, like early figs,^(C) but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. ³ The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.”

⁴ The word of the Lord came to me: ⁵ “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. ⁶ I will keep my eyes on them for their good^(D) and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.^{(E) 7} I will give them a heart to know me,^(F) that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart.^(G)

⁸ “But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible,^(H) this is what the Lord says: In this way I will deal with King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land or living in the land of Egypt.^{(I) 9} I will make them an object of horror^(J) and a disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, an example for disgrace, scorn, ridicule,^(K) and cursing, wherever I have banished them.^{(L) 10} I will send the sword, famine, and plague^(M) against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.”