Two Baskets of Figs
Jeremiah 24, verse 1. The Lord showed me two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon carried away captive Jeconiah king of Judah, the son of Jehoiakim, and the rulers, the craftsmen, the prisoners, and the wealthy men from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon. Jeremiah 24, verse 2. One basket was full of very good figs, like the first figs that ripened. The other basket was full of very bad figs which no one could eat, because they were rotten. Jeremiah 24, verse 3. Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Good figs, very good figs, and also bad figs, figs too rotten to eat.” Jeremiah 24, verse 4. The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah 24, verse 5. “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘As these good figs, so will I acknowledge that for good things I settled the tribe of Judah in a far land, whom I sent from this place into the land of Chaldea. Jeremiah 24, verse 6. For I will set My eyes on them for good things, and restore them to this land for good things. I will build them up, and not tear them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up. Jeremiah 24, verse 7. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be to Me as a people, and I will be to them as God. They shall return to Me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24, verse 8. ‘As for the bad figs, too rotten to eat’—surely thus says the Lord—‘I shall deliver them to Zedekiah the king of Judah, his nobles, and the remnant of Jerusalem, those left in this land, and those dwelling in Egypt. Jeremiah 24, verse 9. I will cause them to be dispersed into all the kingdoms of the earth, and they will be for a disgrace, for a parable, for a hatred, and for a curse in every place where I drive them. Jeremiah 24, verse 10. I will send famine, death, and the sword to them, until they come to an end in the land I gave to them.’”