The Good and Bad Figs

1YHWH has shown me—and behold—two baskets of figs set before the temple of YHWH, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had removed Jeconiah† son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the craftsmen and and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.† 2One basket had very good figs like the figs first ripe, and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten for badness.

3“And YHWH said to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

And I said, “Figs—the good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, which could not be eaten for badness.”

4And again the word of YHWH came to me, saying: 5“Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard the captive of Judah, whom I sent forth from this place into the land of the Chaldeans† for good. 6And I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them and not tear down, and I will plant them and not uproot. 7And I will give to them a heart to know Me, that I am YHWH; and they will be unto Me a people, and I will be unto them God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

8And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, surely’ thus says YHWH: ‘So will I give over Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem remaining in this land, and those dwelling in the land of Egypt. 9And I will give them for a horror and an offense into all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them there. 10And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they are finished off from the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”