1. The Lord spoke to me in a vision after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had come to Judah and taken King Jehoiachin, his officials, and all the skilled workers back to Babylonia. In this vision I saw two baskets of figs in front of the Lord's temple.
2. One basket was full of very good figs that ripened early, and the other was full of rotten figs that were not fit to eat.
3. “Jeremiah,” the Lord asked, “what do you see?”“Figs,” I said. “Some are very good, but the others are too rotten to eat.”
4. Then the Lord told me to say:
5. People of Judah, the good figs stand for those of you I sent away as exiles to Babylonia,
6. where I am watching over them. Then some day I will bring them back to this land. I will plant them, instead of uprooting them, and I will build them up, rather than tearing them down.