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āāJeremiah 24:1-10 MSGā¬ā¬
[1-2] God showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple of God. This was after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem into exile in Babylon, along with the leaders of Judah, the craftsmen, and the skilled laborers. In one basket the figs were of the finest quality, ripe and ready to eat. In the other basket the figs were rotten, so rotten they couldnāt be eaten. [3] God said to me, āJeremiah, what do you see?ā āFigs,ā I said. āExcellent figs of the finest quality, and also rotten figs, so rotten they canāt be eaten.ā [4-6] Then God told me, āThis is the Message from the God of Israel: The exiles from here that Iāve sent off to the land of the Babylonians are like the good figs, and Iāll make sure they get good treatment. Iāll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and Iāll bring them back to this land. Iāll build them up, not tear them down; Iāll plant them, not uproot them. [7] āAnd Iāll give them a heart to know me, God. Theyāll be my people and Iāll be their God, for theyāll have returned to me with all their hearts. [8-10] āBut like the rotten figs, so rotten they canāt be eaten, is Zedekiah king of Judah. Rotten figsāthatās how Iāll treat him and his leaders, along with the survivors here and those down in Egypt. Iāll make them something that the whole world will look on as disgustingārepugnant outcasts, their names used as curse words wherever in the world I drive them. And Iāll make sure they die like fliesāfrom war, starvation, disease, whateverāuntil the land I once gave to them and their ancestors is completely rid of them.ā

