Old/New Testament
The Good Figs and the Bad Figs
24 The Lord showed me these things: I saw two baskets of figs arranged in front of the Temple of the Lord. (I saw this vision after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jehoiachin[a] as a prisoner. Jehoiachin, the son of King Jehoiakim, and all his important officials were taken away from Jerusalem. They were taken to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took away all the carpenters and metalworkers of Judah.) 2 One basket had very good figs in it, the kind that ripen early in the season. But the other basket had rotten figs. They were 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, and the rotten figs are very rotten. They are too rotten to eat.”
4 Then the message from the Lord came to me. 5 The Lord, the God of Israel, said, “The people of Judah were taken from their country. Their enemy brought them to Babylon. Those people will be like these good figs. I will be kind to them. 6 I will protect them. I will bring them back to the land of Judah. I will not tear them down—I will build them up. I will not pull them up—I will plant them so that they can grow. 7 I will make them want to know me. They will know that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will do this because the prisoners in Babylon will turn to me with their whole hearts.”
8 But the Lord also says, “I will treat King Zedekiah of Judah like those figs that are too rotten to eat. Zedekiah, his high officials, all those who are left in Jerusalem, and those people of Judah who are living in Egypt will be like those rotten figs. 9 I will punish them. Their punishment will shock all the people on earth. People will make fun of those people from Judah. People will tell jokes about them and curse them in all the places where I scatter them. 10 I will bring war, famine, and disease against them. I will attack them until they have all been killed. Then they will no longer be on the land that I gave to them and to their ancestors.”
A Summary of Jeremiah’s Message
25 This is the message that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. This message came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim[b] son of Josiah was king of Judah. The fourth year of his time as king was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. 2 This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem:
3 I have been a prophet for these past 23 years, from the 13th year that Josiah son of Amon was the king of Judah. And from that time until today, I have spoken messages to you from the Lord again and again. But you have not listened. 4 The Lord has sent his servants, the prophets, to you over and over again. But you have not listened to them. You have not paid any attention to them.
5 Those prophets said, “Change your lives and stop doing evil! If you change, you can return to the land that the Lord gave you and your ancestors long ago. He gave you this land to live in forever. 6 Don’t follow other gods. Don’t serve or worship them. Don’t worship idols that someone has made. That only makes me angry with you. By doing this you only hurt yourselves.”[c]
7 “But you did not listen to me.” This message is from the Lord. “You worshiped idols that someone made, and that made me angry. And it only hurt you.”
8 So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says, “You have not listened to my messages. 9 I will soon send for all the tribes of the north.[d]” This message is from the Lord. “I will soon send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He is my servant. I will bring those people against the land of Judah and against the people of Judah. I will bring them against all the nations around you too. I will destroy all those countries. I will make those lands like an empty desert forever. People will see those countries, and whistle at how badly they were destroyed. 10 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and happiness in those places. There will be no more happy sounds of the brides and bridegrooms. I will take away the sound of people grinding meal. I will take away the light of the lamp. 11 That whole area will be an empty desert. All these people will be slaves of the king of Babylon for 70 years.
12 “But when the 70 years have passed, I will punish the king of Babylon. I will punish the nation of Babylon.” This message is from the Lord. “I will punish the land of the Babylonians for their sins. I will make that land a desert forever. 13 I said many bad things will happen to Babylon, and all of them will happen. Jeremiah spoke about those foreign nations. And all the warnings are written in this book. 14 Yes, the people of Babylon will have to serve many nations and many great kings. I will give them the punishment they deserve for all the things they have done.”
Judgment on the Nations of the World
15 The Lord, the God of Israel, said this to me: “Jeremiah, take this cup of wine from my hand. It is the wine of my anger. I am sending you to different nations. Make all the nations drink from this cup. 16 They will drink this wine. Then they will vomit and act like crazy people. They will do this because of the war that I will soon bring against them.”
17 So I took the cup of wine from the Lord’s hand. I went to those nations and I made them drink from the cup. 18 I poured this wine for the people of Jerusalem and Judah. I made the kings and leaders of Judah drink from the cup. I did this so that they would become an empty desert. I did this so that place would be destroyed so badly that people would whistle and say curses about it. And it happened—Judah is like that now.
19 I also made Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, drink from that cup. I made his officials, his important leaders, and all his people drink from it.
20 I also made all the Arabs and all the kings of the land of Uz drink from the cup.
I made all the kings of the land of the Philistines drink from the cup. These were the kings of the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of the city Ashdod.
21 Then I made the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon drink from the cup.
22 I made all the kings of Tyre and Sidon drink from the cup.
I also made all the kings of the faraway countries drink from that cup. 23 I made the people of Dedan, Tema, and Buz drink from the cup. I made all those who cut their hair at their temples drink from the cup. 24 I made all the kings of Arabia drink from the cup. These kings live in the desert. 25 I made all the kings from Zimri, Elam, and Media drink from the cup. 26 I made all the kings of the north, those who were near and far, drink from the cup. I made them drink one after the other. I made all the kingdoms that are on earth drink from that cup. Finally, after all these other nations, the king of Babylon will drink from it too.
27 “Jeremiah, say to those nations, this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘Drink this cup of my anger. Get drunk from it and vomit. Fall down and don’t get up. Don’t get up because I am bringing wars against you.’
28 “They will refuse to take the cup from your hand. They will refuse to drink it, but you will tell them, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: You will surely drink from this cup! 29 I am already making these bad things happen to Jerusalem, the city that is called by my name. Maybe you people think that you will not be punished, but you are wrong. You will be punished! I am giving the command for war to come against all the people of the earth.’” This message is from the Lord.
30 “Jeremiah, you will give them this message:
‘The Lord shouts from above.
He shouts from his holy Temple.
He shouts against his people.
His shouts are loud like the songs of people walking on grapes to make wine.
31 The noise spreads to all the people on earth.
What is all the noise about?
The Lord tells why he is punishing all the nations.
He has given his arguments against them.
He has judged them,
and now he is killing the wicked with his sword.’”
This message is from the Lord.
32 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Disasters will soon spread
from country to country.
They will come like a powerful storm
to all the faraway places on earth!”
33 The dead bodies of those killed by the Lord will reach from one end of the earth to the other. No one will cry for them. No one will gather up their bodies and bury them. They will be left lying on the ground like dung.
34 Shepherds, you should be leading the sheep.
Start crying, you great leaders!
Roll around on the ground in pain, you leaders of the sheep.
It is now time for your slaughter.
You will be scattered everywhere, like pieces flying from a broken jar.
35 There will be no place for the shepherds to hide.
They will not escape.
36 I hear the shepherds shouting.
I hear the leaders of the sheep crying,
because the Lord is destroying their pastures.
37 Those peaceful pastures will be ruined
because of the Lord’s anger.
38 He is like an angry lion that has left his cave.
And because of his terrible anger
and by the attacks of the enemy army,
their land will become an empty desert.
Jeremiah’s Lesson at the Temple
26 This message came from the Lord during the first year that Jehoiakim[e] son of Josiah was king of Judah. 2 The Lord said, “Jeremiah, stand in the Temple yard of the Lord. Give this message to all the people of Judah who are coming to worship at the Temple of the Lord. Tell them everything that I tell you to speak. Don’t leave out any part of my message. 3 Maybe they will listen and obey my message. Maybe they will stop living such evil lives. If they change, I will change my mind about my plans to punish them. I am planning this punishment because of the many evil things they have done. 4 You will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I gave my teachings to you. You must obey me and follow my teachings. 5 You must listen to what my servants say to you. The prophets are my servants. I have sent my prophets to you again and again, but you did not listen to them. 6 If you don’t obey me, I will make my Temple in Jerusalem just like my Holy Tent at Shiloh.[f] People all over the world will think of Jerusalem when they ask for bad things to happen to other cities.’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say all these words at the Lord’s Temple. 8 Jeremiah finished speaking everything the Lord had commanded him to say to the people. Then the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed Jeremiah. They said, “You will die for saying such terrible things! 9 How dare you say such a thing in the name of the Lord! How dare you say that this Temple will be destroyed like the one at Shiloh! How dare you say that Jerusalem will become a desert with no one living in it!” All the people gathered around Jeremiah in the Temple of the Lord.
10 Now the rulers of Judah heard about everything that was happening. So they came out of the king’s palace. They went up to the Lord’s Temple. They took their places at the entrance of the New Gate. The New Gate is a gate leading to the Lord’s Temple. 11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and all the other people. They said, “Jeremiah should be killed. He said bad things about Jerusalem. You heard him say those things.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers of Judah and all the other people. He said, “The Lord sent me to say these things about this Temple and this city. Everything that you have heard is from the Lord. 13 You people, change your lives! You must start doing good! You must obey the Lord your God. If you do that, he will change his mind. He will not do the bad things he told you about. 14 As for me, I am in your power. Do to me what you think is good and right. 15 But if you kill me, be sure of one thing. You will be guilty of killing an innocent person. You will make this city and everyone living in it guilty too. The Lord really did send me to you. The message you heard really is from the Lord.”
16 Then the rulers and all the people spoke. They said to the priests and the prophets, “Jeremiah must not be killed. What he told us comes from the Lord our God.”
17 Then some of the elders stood up and spoke to all the people. 18 They said, “Micah the prophet was from the city of Moresheth. He was a prophet during the time that Hezekiah was king of Judah. Micah said this to all the people of Judah: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
Zion will be destroyed.
It will become a plowed field.
Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.
Temple Mount will be an empty hill[g] overgrown with bushes.’ (A)
19 “King Hezekiah of Judah and the people of Judah did not kill Micah. You know that Hezekiah respected the Lord and wanted to please him. So the Lord changed his mind and didn’t do the bad things to Judah that he said he would do. If we hurt Jeremiah, we will bring many troubles on ourselves. And those troubles will be our own fault.”
20 In the past there was another man who spoke the Lord’s message. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from the city of Kiriath Jearim. Uriah said the same things against this city and this land that Jeremiah did. 21 King Jehoiakim, his army officers, and the leaders of Judah heard Uriah and became angry. King Jehoiakim wanted to kill Uriah, but Uriah heard about it. Uriah was afraid, so he escaped to the land of Egypt. 22 But King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor and some other men to Egypt. 23 They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim ordered Uriah to be killed with a sword. Uriah’s body was thrown into the burial place where the poor are buried.
24 There was an important man named Ahikam son of Shaphan who supported Jeremiah. He kept Jeremiah from being killed by the priests and prophets.
Following the True Teaching
2 You, however, must tell everyone how to live in a way that agrees with the true teaching. 2 Teach the older men to have self-control, to be serious, and to be wise. They must be strong in faith, in love, and in patience.
3 Also, teach the older women to live the way those who serve the Lord should live. They should not go around saying bad things about others or be in the habit of drinking too much. They should teach what is good. 4 By doing this they will teach the younger women to love their husbands and children. 5 They will teach them to be wise and pure, to take care of their homes, to be kind, and to be willing to serve their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us.
6 In the same way, tell the young men to be wise. 7 You should be an example for them in every way by the good things you do. When you teach, be honest and serious. 8 And your teaching should be clearly right so that you cannot be criticized. Then anyone who is against you will be ashamed. There will not be anything bad they can say about us.
9 And tell this to those who are slaves: They should be willing to serve their masters at all times; they should try to please them, not argue with them; 10 they should not steal from them; and they should show their masters that they can be trusted. Then, in everything they do, they will show that the teaching of God our Savior is good.
11 That is the way we should live, because God’s grace has come. That grace can save everyone. 12 It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God. 13 We should live like that while we are waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our great hope, and he will come with glory. 14 He gave himself for us. He died to free us from all evil. He died to make us pure—people who belong only to him and who always want to do good.
15 These are the things you should tell people. Encourage them, and when they are wrong, correct them. You have full authority to do this, so don’t let anyone think they can ignore you.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International