The Good Figs and the Bad Figs
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1After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem 2Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with 3the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me this vision: behold, 4two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.
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One basket had very good figs, 5like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had 6very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.
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And the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."
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Then the word of the LORD came to me:
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"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, 7whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
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8I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. 9I will build them up, and not tear them down; 10I will plant them, and not uproot them.
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11I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, 12and they shall be my people 13and I will be their God, 14for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
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"But thus says the LORD: Like 15the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat 16Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who 17dwell in the land of Egypt.
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I will make them 18a horrora to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be 19a reproach, 20a byword, 21a taunt, and 22a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.
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And I will send 23sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)