Jeremiah 24

1After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, Yahweh showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of Yahweh.

2One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

3“Jeremiah,” Yahweh asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

4Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

5“This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

7I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

8But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says Yahweh, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

10And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”