1 The LORD let me see: there were two baskets of figs set in front of the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah, the craftsmen and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had figs that were very good, like early figs; the other basket had figs that were very bad, too bad to be eaten.
3 The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs: the good figs very good, and the bad very bad, too bad to be eaten."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
5 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will look with favor on the exiles of Judah whom I sent out of this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
6 I will set my eye on them for good and bring them back to this land; I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
7 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 all their heart.
8 "And like the bad figs, too bad to be eaten, yes, thus says the LORD, so I will treat Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem left in this land, and those who are living in the land of Egypt.
9 I will make them a horror, an evil, to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places where I drive them.
10 I will send among them the sword, the famine and the pestilence until they are consumed from off the land I gave to them and to their fathers."