Jeremiah 24 :: New International Version (NIV)

Two Baskets of Figs

Jer 24:1After Jehoiachin[fn] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.

Jer 24:2

Jer 24:2One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

Jer 24:3

Jer 24:3Then the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”

Jer 24:4

Jer 24:4Then the word of the LORD came to me:

Jer 24:5

Jer 24:5“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.[fn]

Jer 24:6

Jer 24:6My eyes will watch over them for their 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.

Jer 24:7

Jer 24:7I 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.

Jer 24:8

Jer 24:8“ ‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.

Jer 24:9

Jer 24:9I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse[fn] and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them.

Jer 24:10

Jer 24:10I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’ ”

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NIV Footnotes

(24:1)

Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin

(24:5)

Or Chaldeans

(24:9)

That is, their names will be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, others will see that they are cursed.

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