Jeremiah 24

The Vision of the Two Baskets of Figs

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD.

2 One basket had very good figs, like early figs; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs are very good, and the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

The Good Figs: God’s Promise of Restoration

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 as good the exiles from Judah whom I sent out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.”

6 “For I will set My eyes on them for good, And I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.”

7 “I will give them a heart to know Me, That I am the LORD. They will be My people, And I will be their God, For they will return to Me with their whole heart.”

The Bad Figs: Judgment on the Wicked

8 “But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten, This is what the LORD says: I will treat Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, And the survivors remaining in this land And those living in Egypt just like these rotten figs.”

9 “I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, A disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, In every place where I scatter them.”

10 “I will send sword, famine, and plague against them Until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and to their fathers.”