12 Jeremiah 21-36: A TranslationII. PREPARE FOR A LIFE IN EXILE (24:1-29:32)
A. Good Figs Gone for Export (24:1-10)
24 1 Yahweh showed me, and there! two baskets of figs situated in front of the
temple of Yahweh-after Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled Jeco-
niah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah and the crafts-
men and the smiths from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon.^2 The one
basket had very good figs, like the early figs, and the other basket very bad figs,
which could not be eaten because they were so bad.^3 And Yahweh said to me:
'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said: 'Figs! The good figs are very good,
and the bad ones very bad, which cannot be eaten because they are so bad.'(^4) And the word of Yahweh came to me:
(^5) Thus said Yahweh, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the
exiles of Judah whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Chal-
deans-for good;^6 and I will keep my eye upon them for good, and I will
bring them back to this land, and I will build them up and not overthrow,
and I will plant them and not uproot.^7 And I will give them a heart to know
me, for I am Yahweh, and they will be a people to me, and I, I will be God
to them, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
(^8) And like the bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were so bad,
indeed thus said Yahweh: So will I make Zedekiah, king of Judah and his
princes and the remnant of Jerusalem, the ones who remain in this land,
and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.^9 Yes, I will make them a
fright, a calamity to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a prov-
erb, a taunt and a swearword, in all the places where I shall disperse them.
(^10) And I will send against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
until they are consumed from upon the soil that I gave to them and to
their fathers.
B. Indictment of Judah and the Nations (25:1-38)
- Nebuchadrezzar: Yahweh's Servant for a Time (25:1-14)
25 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon),^2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke con-
cerning all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
(^3) From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, yes, until this
day-this is twenty-three years-the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I
have spoken to you-constantly I spoke-but you have not listened;^4 and Yah-
weh has repeatedly sent to you all his servants the prophets-constantly he
sent-but you have not listened, indeed you have not bent your ear to listen.