Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 265
24:1–25:7
J eremiah
253
After King Nebuc hadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoia
kim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the officials of Judah and all the
craftsmen and artisans, the Lord gave me this vision. I saw two baskets
of figs placed in front of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem. One basket was
filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were
too rotten to eat.
Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.”
Then the Lord gave me this message: “This is what the Lord, the God
of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the
land of the Babylonians. I will watch over and care for them, and I will
bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I
will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize
me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they
will return to me wholeheartedly.
“But the bad figs,” the Lord said, “represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his
officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will
treat them like bad figs, too rotten to eat. I will make them an object of hor
ror and a symbol of evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced
and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I scatter them. And I will send
war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel,
which I gave to them and their ancestors.”
This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the Lord
during the fourth year of Jehoiak im’s reign over Judah. This was the year
when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.
Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of
Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving
me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have
not listened.
“Again and again the Lord has sent you his servants, the prophets, but
you have not listened or even paid attention. Each time the message was
this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you
are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to
you and your ancestors forever. Do not provoke my anger by worshiping
idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’
“But you would not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me furious
