The Good Figs and the Bad Figs

1 ^jAfter Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem ^kJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with ^lthe officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, ^mtwo baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, ⁿlike first-ripe figs, but the other basket had ^overy bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ^pwhom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 ^qI will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ^rI will build them up, and not tear them down; ^sI will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 ^tI will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ^uand they shall be my people ^uand I will be their God, ^vfor they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 “But thus says the Lord: Like ^wthe bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ^xZedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ^ydwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them ^za horror¹ to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ^aa reproach, ^ba byword, ^aa taunt, and ^ca curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send ^dsword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Seventy Years of Captivity

1 ^eThe word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, ^ffrom the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^gpersistently to you, ^hbut you have not listened. 4 ^hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ⁱ‘Turn now, every one of you, ^jfrom his evil way and evil deeds, and ^kdwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 ^lDo not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^mor provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 ^mYet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^mthat you might provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 ⁿbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, ^qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^rthe grinding of the millstones and ^sthe light of the lamp. 11 ^pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^useventy years. 12 Then after ^useventy years are completed, ^vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^vmaking the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 ^xFor many nations ^xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^yand I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath

15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^z“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^athe sword that I am sending among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, ^band made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 ^cJerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^dto make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 ^ePharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and ^fall the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^gthe land of Uz and all the kings of ^hthe land of the Philistines (^hAshkelon, ^hGaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ⁱAshdod); 21 ^jEdom, ^kMoab, and the sons of ^lAmmon; 22 all the kings of ^mTyre, all the kings of ^mSidon, and the kings of the coastland across ⁿthe sea; 23 ^oDedan, ^pTema, ^qBuz, and all who cut ^rthe corners of their hair; 24 all the ^skings of Arabia and all the kings of ^fthe mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^tElam, and all the kings of ^uMedia; 26 all the kings of ^vthe north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^wBabylon¹ shall drink.

27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^xDrink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^ythe sword that I am sending among you.’

28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^zYou must drink! 29 For behold, ^aI begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^yfor I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

33 ^h“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ⁱThey shall not be lamented, ^jor gathered, or buried; ^jthey shall be dung on the surface of the ground.