241 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim , king of Judah , and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon , the Lord showed me: behold , two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord ! 2 One basket had very good figs , like first-ripe figs , and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness . 3 Then the Lord said to me, " What do you see , Jeremiah ?" And I said , "Figs , the good figs , very good ; and the bad figs, very bad , which cannot be eaten due to rottenness ." 4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying , 5 "Thus says the Lord God of Israel , 'Like these good figs , so I will regard as good the captives of Judah , whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans . 6 'For I will set My eyes on them for good , and I will bring them again to this land ; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 'I will give them a heart to know Me, for 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 which cannot be eaten due to rottenness -indeed , thus says the Lord -so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials , and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt . 9 'I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth , as a reproach and a proverb , a taunt and a curse in all places where e I will scatter them. 10 'I will send the sword , the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers .' "
