Jeremiah 24

1. It was after N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel had carried Y’khanyahu the son of Y’hoyakim, king of Y’hudah, along with the leaders of Y’hudah, the artisans and the skilled workers into exile from Yerushalayim and brought them to Bavel, that Adonai gave me a vision. There, in front of the temple of Adonai, two baskets of figs were placed.

2. One of the baskets had in it very good figs, like those that ripen first; while the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they were inedible.

3. Then Adonai asked me, “Yirmeyahu, what do you see?” I answered, “Figs — the good figs are very good; but the bad ones are very bad, so bad they are inedible.”

4. The word of Adonai came to me:

5. “Here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘I will regard the exiles from Y’hudah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Kasdim, as good, just as I do these good figs.

6. “‘I will look after them for their good, 6 I will bring them back to this land; 6 I will build them up and not tear them down, 6 plant them and not pull them up.

7. I will give them a heart to know me 7 that I am Adonai. 7 They will be my people, 7 and I will be their God; 7 for they will return to me 7 with all their heart.’

8. “But concerning the bad figs that are so bad as to be inedible, Adonai says: ‘I will make Tzidkiyahu the king of Y’hudah and his leaders resemble them, likewise the rest of Yerushalayim remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

9. Everywhere I drive them I will make them an object of horror, repulsive to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, a byword, a laughingstock and a curse;

10. and I will send sword, famine and plague among them until they have disappeared from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’”