Jeremiah 24
24
Jeremiah Has a Vision of Two Baskets of Figs
1 #
2 K 24.12-16; 2 Ch 36.10. The Lord spoke to me in a vision after King Nebuchadnezzar#24.1 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia had come to Judah and taken King Jehoiachin,#24.1 Jehoiachin: The Hebrew text has “Jeconiah,” another form of Jehoiachin's name; he ruled for three months in 598 b.c. his officials, and all the skilled workers back to Babylonia. In this vision I saw two baskets of figs in front of the Lord's temple. 2One basket was full of very good figs that ripened early, and the other was full of rotten figs that were not fit to eat.
3“Jeremiah,” the Lord asked, “what do you see?”
“Figs,” I said. “Some are very good, but the others are too rotten to eat.”
4Then the Lord told me to say:
5People of Judah, the good figs stand for those of you I sent away as exiles to Babylonia, 6where I am watching over them. Then someday I will bring them back to this land. I will plant them, instead of uprooting them, and I will build them up, rather than tearing them down. 7I will give them a desire to know me and to be my people. They will want me to be their God, and they will turn back to me with all their heart.
8The rotten figs stand for King Zedekiah#24.8 Zedekiah: Ruled 598–586 b.c. of Judah, his officials, and all the others who were not taken away to Babylonia, whether they stayed here in Judah or went to live in Egypt. 9I will punish them with a terrible disaster, and everyone on earth will tremble when they hear about it. I will force the people of Judah to go to foreign countries, where they will be cursed and insulted. 10War and hunger and disease will strike them, until they finally disappear from the land that I gave them and their ancestors.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 24
24
Two Baskets of Figs
1-2 God showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple of God. This was after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon, along with the leaders of Judah, the craftsmen, and the skilled laborers. In one basket the figs were of the finest quality, ripe and ready to eat. In the other basket the figs were rotten, so rotten they couldn’t be eaten.
3 God said to me, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
“Figs,” I said. “Excellent figs of the finest quality, and also rotten figs, so rotten they can’t be eaten.”
4-6Then God told me, “This is the Message from the God of Israel: The exiles from here that I’ve sent off to the land of the Babylonians are like the good figs, and I’ll make sure they get good treatment. I’ll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I’ll bring them back to this land. I’ll build them up, not tear them down; I’ll plant them, not uproot them.
7“And I’ll give them a heart to know me, God. They’ll be my people and I’ll be their God, for they’ll have returned to me with all their hearts.
8-10“But like the rotten figs, so rotten they can’t be eaten, is Zedekiah king of Judah. Rotten figs—that’s how I’ll treat him and his leaders, along with the survivors here and those down in Egypt. I’ll make them something that the whole world will look on as disgusting—repugnant outcasts, their names used as curse words wherever in the world I drive them. And I’ll make sure they die like flies—from war, starvation, disease, whatever—until the land I once gave to them and their ancestors is completely rid of them.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.