1 ¶ After Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim the king of Judah away captive, along with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalworkers of Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs setting in front of the temple of the LORD.

2 One basket had very good figs, like those that get ripe first: the other basket had very bad figs, that could not be eaten, they were so bad.

3 Then the LORD said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs are very good; and the bad are very bad, and cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me again, saying,

5 The LORD, the God of Israel says; As with these good figs, so will I look kindly on those of Judah who are carried away captive, whom I have sent away from here to the land of the Chaldeans for their own good.

6 For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

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

8 But like the bad figs, that are too bad to be eaten; says the LORD, I will surely discard Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, those who are left in Jerusalem, those who remain in this land, and those who are living in the land of Egypt:

9 And I will give them up to be dispersed into all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be scorned, mocked, taunted and cursed, in all places where I will drive them.

10 And I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence, among them, until they are destroyed and none of them are left in the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.