2. One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.
3. Then the Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’‘Figs,’ I answered. ‘The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad that they cannot be eaten.’
4. Then the word of the Lord came to me:
5. ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.
6. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
7. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.