The Surprising Way Back Home | Wayne Splawn

1After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the
skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD
showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the
LORD. 2One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the
other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. 3Then
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 they cannot
be eaten.” 4Then 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. 6My 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. 7I 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.
8‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says
the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials
and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land
or live in Egypt. 9I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all
the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an
object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. 10I will send the sword,
famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land
I gave to them and their ancestors.’”
Jeremiah 24:1-10 (NIV)