Jeremiah 24

1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs in front of his temple after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, Judah’s rulers, artisans, prisoners, and wealthy people from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon. 2 One basket held very good early figs. The other held figs so bad that no one could eat them. 3 The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.” 4 And 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 will acknowledge the exiles of Judah, whom I sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.”

6 “And I will fix my eyes on them for good, and I will restore them to this land for good. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.” 7 “And 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 turn back to me with their whole heart.” 8 “And like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten — this is what the Lord says — so I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, and his great men, and the rest of Jerusalem: those left in this land and those living in Egypt.” 9 “And I will give them over to scattering into all the kingdoms of the earth, and they will become a disgrace and a byword and a hatred and a curse in every place where I drive them out.” 10 “And I will send famine and plague and the sword against them, until they have vanished from the land I gave them.”