1 Y ahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the leaders of Judah, together with the able workmen from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs set in front of the house of the Lord.

2 O ne basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

One basket had very good figs, like figs just ready to eat. And the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

3 T hen Yahweh said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.

Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

4 Y ahweh’s word came to me, saying,

Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 Y ahweh, the God of Israel says: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

“This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so will I think of the people of Judah as being good, whom I have sent away from this place into the land of the Babylonians.

6 F or I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

For I will keep My eyes on them for their good, and I will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not pull them up by the roots.

7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord. They will be My people and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.’

8 A s the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad, surely Yahweh says, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt,

“But the Lord says, ‘Like the bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten, so I will give up Zedekiah king of Judah and his captains. And I will give up those left of Jerusalem who stay in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.

9 I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

I will make them a cause of fear and trouble for all the nations of the earth. They will be a shame and a curse and spoken against in all the places where I will make them go.

10 I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.

And I will send the sword and hunger and disease upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.’”