¶ The LORD¹ shewed me, and, behold, two² baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after³ that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths⁴, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

One basket⁵ had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe⁶: and the other basket had very naughty⁷ figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad⁸.

Then said the LORD unto me, What⁹ seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge¹⁰ them that are carried away captive¹¹ of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

For I will¹² set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring¹³ them again to this land: and I will build¹⁴ them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

And I will give¹⁵ them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they¹⁶ shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they¹⁷ shall return unto me with their whole heart.

And as¹⁸ the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will¹⁹ I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them²⁰ that dwell in the land of Egypt:

And I will deliver them to be removed²¹ into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a²² reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse²³, in all places whither I shall drive them.

¶²⁴And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.