Commentary On Jeremiah And Lamentations Volume 3

1 Jehovah shewed me a vision, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the Temple of Jehovah, after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the artificer, and the engraver, from Jerusalem, and led them away to Babylon:

2 One basket of figs very good, like early figs, and another basket of figs very bad, which could not be eaten, being so bad.

3 And Jehovah said to me, "What seest thou, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, good figs, very good; and bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, being so bad."

4 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

5 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, As these good figs, so will I acknowledge the captivity of Judah, which I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, for good:

6 And I will set my eye upon them for good, and will restore them 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, that I am Jehovah; and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 But as to the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, being so bad, surely thus saith Jehovah, so will I render Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue at Jerusalem, those who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt;

9 And I will set them for a commotion, for an evil to all kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach, and a terror, and a taunt, and a curse in all places where I shall drive them;

10 And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they be consumed from the face of the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.