Jeremiah 24

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Yahweh gave me a vision: set out in front of the Temple of Yahweh were two baskets of figs. This wasafter Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had led Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, away into exile fromJerusalem, with the chief men of Judah, the blacksmiths and metalworkers, and had taken them to Babylon.	1 The Lord revealed to me, and behold, two baskets full of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, carried away Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and his leaders, and the craftsmen and engravers of Jerusalem, and led them into Babylon.
2 One basket contained excellent figs, like those that ripen first; the other contained very bad figs, so badthey were uneatable.	2 One basket had exceedingly good figs, like the figs usually found early in the season, and the other basket had exceedingly bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were so bad.
3 Yahweh said to me, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' 'Figs,' I answered, 'the good ones excel ent, the badones very bad, so bad as to be uneatable.'	3 And the Lord said to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said: “Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad and cannot be eaten because they are so bad.”
4 Then the word of Yahweh was addressed to me,	4 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 'Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this, "As these figs are good, so I mean to concern myself with thewelfare of the exiles of Judah whom I have sent from this place to the country of the Chaldaeans.	5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Just like these good figs, so will I regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.
6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, to bring them back to this country, to build them up andnot to break them down, to plant them and not to uproot them.	6 And I will set my eyes upon them, so as to be pleased. And I will lead them back into this land. And I will build them up, and I will not tear them down. And I will plant them, and I will not uproot them.
7 I shal give them a heart to acknowledge that I am Yahweh. They wil be my people and I shal be theirGod, for they will return to me with all their heart.	7 And I will give them a heart, so that they may know me, that I am the Lord. And they will be my people, and I will be their God. For they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8 As for the bad figs, the figs so bad as to be uneatable-yes, Yahweh says this -- that is how I shal treatZedekiah king of Judah, his chief men and what is left of Jerusalem, those who remain in this country and thoseliving in Egypt.	8 And just like the very bad figs, which cannot be eaten because they are so bad, thus says the Lord: so will I regard Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his leaders, and the rest of Jerusalem, those who have remained in this city, and those who are living in the land of Egypt.
9 I shal make them an object of horror, a disaster, to all the kingdoms of the earth, a thing of shame, abyword, a laughing-stock, a curse, wherever I shal drive them.	9 And I will give them over, with upheaval and affliction, to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a disgrace, and a parable, and a proverb, and a curse in all the places to which I have cast them out.
10 Sword, famine and plague I shall send against them until they have vanished from the soil I gave tothem and to their ancestors." '	10 And I will send among them the sword, and famine, and pestilence: until they have been worn away from the land, which I gave to them and to their fathers.”