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The Good and Bad Figs

¹ After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah^(a) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.² One 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,” the LORD 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.”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 regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans^(a).⁶ I will keep My eyes upon their 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.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 all their heart.⁸ But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten, says the LORD, so I will 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.⁹ I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them.¹⁰ And I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them, until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their fathers.’”