Jeremiah 24

God shewed me, and lo! two baskets of figs, which had been set before the temple of God,—after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive, Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah and the carpenters and the smiths out of Jerusalem, and had brought them into Babylon:—

the one basket, was of very good figs, like the first-ripe figs; and, the other basket, was of very bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness.

Then said God unto me,—What canst thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, for badness.

Then came the word of God unto me, saying:

Thus, saith God of Israel, Like these good figs, so, will I regard them of Judah who are carried into captivity, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

Therefore will I set mine eye upon them for good, and will bring them back upon this land,—and will build them up, and not pull them down, and will plant them and not root them up;

and will give them a heart to know, me, that, I, am God, So shall they become my people, And, I, will become their God; for they will return unto me with all their heart.

And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, Surely thus, saith God—so, will I deliver up Zedekiah king of Judah, and his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them who are dwelling in the land of Egypt;

yea I will deliver them up, as a terror of calamity, to all the kingdoms of the earth,—as a reproach and as a byword, as a mockery and as a contempt, in every place whither I will drive them;

and I will send among them, sword famine and pestilence,—until they are consumed from off the soil which I gave to them and to their fathers.