Jeremiah 24

Two Baskets of Figs

Jeremiah sees good figs and bad figs before the temple, and the Lord says which Judahites are which. The exiles in Babylon are the good ones, and the king and people still in Jerusalem are the bad.

After Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) was carried to Babylon in 597 B.C., so early in Zedekiah’s reign (597–586 B.C. by the Bible Dictionary); the chapter gives no further date Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Jeremiah 24 is set just after the first of Nebuchadnezzar's two large deportations of Judah (597 and 586 B.C.).

Jeremiah 24 is set just after the first of Nebuchadnezzar's two large deportations of Judah (597 and 586 B.C.). In 597 B.C. he took King Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah), the royal household, the princes, the “carpenters and smiths,” and thousands of others to Babylon, and made Jehoiachin's uncle king as Zedekiah. The chapter belongs among the prophecies under Zedekiah (597–586), the one “on exiles carried away with Jehoiachin.”

That made two Judahs. One was in Babylon, among them the priest Ezekiel. The other was in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, with the temple still standing, and it was easy for those who stayed to think that they were the ones the Lord had spared. Lehi was living in that city at the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, when “many prophets” were saying that Jerusalem must repent or be destroyed (1 Ne. 1:4).

The chapter is a single vision with its interpretation: the sight in verses 1–3, the good figs in 4–7, the bad in 8–10. Jeremiah later put the same figs into a letter to the exiles (Jer. 29:15–19). The chapter heading in the Church's edition sums it up: “Zedekiah and the people of Judah will be cursed and scattered—Some will be gathered back from Chaldea to serve the Lord.”

The thread through the chapter

Jeremiah 24 turns the verdict on who is blessed upside down. The people in Jerusalem, with their city and temple intact, took themselves for the favored ones.

Jeremiah 24 turns the verdict on who is blessed upside down. The people in Jerusalem, with their city and temple intact, took themselves for the favored ones. The Lord's answer is that He judges by response, not by address: those who submitted to Babylon, took their punishment, and repented went into exile “for their good” and are the “very good” figs, and those who stayed and refused to submit are the fruit that “cannot be eaten.”

The chapter keeps its words few and balanced. Good and evil (the Hebrew tov and ra') run through the chapter, and the two baskets get opposite promises. The exiles will be built, planted, and given “an heart to know me”; the others will be “consumed from off the land.” The language of building and planting in verse 6 recalls the prophet's own commission in Jer. 1:10, where the work to “build” and “plant” follows the work to root out and pull down. Here the Lord does that work Himself, for the exiles.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–3

The vision of the baskets

In plain words

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, the princes of Judah, and the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem to Babylon, the Lord showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs set in front of the temple. One basket held very good figs, like the first ripe ones of the season. The other held very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. The Lord asked, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” and Jeremiah answered, “Figs; the good ones very good, and the bad ones very bad, too bad to eat.”

1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

Context #

Jeconiah's exile, the first deportation

Jeconiah is King Jehoiachin, the young son of Jehoiakim, whom Jeremiah elsewhere calls Coniah.

Jeconiah is King Jehoiachin, the young son of Jehoiakim, whom Jeremiah elsewhere calls Coniah. He was “eighteen years old when he began to reign” and held the throne “three months” before Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon (2 Kgs. 24:8–15).

The deportation was large and aimed at the nation's leadership. The account has Nebuchadnezzar carry away “all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land” (2 Kgs. 24:14). The “carpenters and smiths” of Jeremiah's verse are those craftsmen. Babylon “deported many of the educated, skilled, and religious to weaken the leadership capability of Judah.” Nebuchadnezzar then made Jehoiachin's uncle king, and he “took the throne name Zedekiah.”

This was the first of two “large deportations” under Nebuchadnezzar, in 597 and again in 586 B.C., and the prophet Ezekiel was “one of the captives carried away by Nebuchadnezzar along with Jehoiachin.” The vision falls between the two: the first deportation is done and the second is still ahead.

Sources: Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Enrichment G: Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Captivities of the Israelites”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Ezekiel”, Bible Dictionary.

2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

Imagery #

First-ripe figs

The early fig was a prized delicacy, so the good basket is a very high compliment.

The early fig was a prized delicacy, so the good basket is a very high compliment. The first figs ripened at the end of June, before the main harvest in August, and they “were highly prized dainties.” The comparison “serves simply to heighten the idea of very good.”

Hosea uses the same picture for the Lord's first delight in His people: “I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time” (Hosea 9:10), a verse the Church edition links to this one. The bad basket's “naughty” figs are, in the Hebrew, simply “bad or corrupted.”

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

Verses 4–7

The good figs

In plain words

The word of the Lord came again: “Like these good figs, I will regard the exiles of Judah, whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, as good. I will set my eyes on them for good and bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.”

4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

Related Scriptures #

Exile “for their good”

The Lord calls the exile good for those who went. “It was the Lord's will that Judah submit to Babylonia, take their punishment, and repent.

The Lord calls the exile good for those who went. “It was the Lord's will that Judah submit to Babylonia, take their punishment, and repent. Those who did so were carried away ‘for their good.’” Jeremiah had told Zedekiah the same: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live” (Jer. 27:12).

The Church edition ties the phrase to D&C 122:7, the Lord's word to Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail that even the pit, the sentence of death, and the elements combined against him “shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”

The Jerusalem view was the opposite. Ezekiel, who was himself among these exiles, records that “the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession” (Ezek. 11:15). The Lord's reply there is that He will be to the exiles “as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.” Jeremiah's later letter told them to build houses, plant gardens, and settle in (Jer. 29:5–7).

Sources: Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Ezekiel”, Bible Dictionary.

6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

Related Scriptures #

The return Nephi names

Nephi describes the same two outcomes as Jeremiah's baskets. He says Jerusalem was destroyed after his father left, “save it be those which are carried away captive into Babylon,”…

Nephi describes the same two outcomes as Jeremiah's baskets. He says Jerusalem was destroyed after his father left, “save it be those which are carried away captive into Babylon,” and then: “they shall return again, and possess the land of Jerusalem; wherefore, they shall be restored again to the land of their inheritance” (2 Ne. 25:10–11). The Church edition links verse 6 to these verses and to Jer. 16:15.

Nephi does not stop there. He goes on to say that those who return will reject the Messiah and be scattered, and that this will last “until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ” (2 Ne. 25:12–16). The return from Babylon is not the last gathering: Nephi says the Lord will “set his hand again the second time.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

Related Scriptures #

A heart to know the Lord

The Lord promises to give the knowledge Himself, rather than wait for the exiles to produce it.

The Lord promises to give the knowledge Himself, rather than wait for the exiles to produce it. “I will give them an heart to know me” comes before “they shall return unto me with their whole heart”; one reading is that the turning “is the working of the knowledge of the Lord put in their hearts.” The verse is footnoted to the Topical Guide's “Man, New, Spiritually Reborn.”

The same gift is promised to the exiles through Ezekiel: “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh,” so that “they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek. 11:19–20). The covenant words come again in Jer. 31:33, where the law is written “in their hearts,” in the chapters of “the latter-day restoration of Israel and the gospel covenant.”

Verses 8–10

The bad figs

In plain words

“Like the bad figs that cannot be eaten, so I will treat Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, the rest of Jerusalem who stay in this land, and those who live in Egypt. I will make them a horror and a harm to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, a proverb, a taunt, and a curse wherever I drive them. I will send sword, famine, and plague among them until they are gone from the land I gave to them and to their fathers.”

8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:

Context #

Zedekiah, the king who would not submit

Zedekiah was “the last king of Judah, his name changed from Mattaniah to Zedekiah,” and the king the Lord names as the bad figs' head.

Zedekiah was “the last king of Judah, his name changed from Mattaniah to Zedekiah,” and the king the Lord names as the bad figs' head. “Zedekiah and others, however, refused to submit,” though Jeremiah had told him to “serve him and his people, and live” (Jer. 27:12).

When the city fell, Zedekiah fled and was caught; “his sons were slain in his presence, and then he was blinded and dragged off northward in chains.” Lehi was living at Jerusalem in the first year of this same king's reign (1 Ne. 1:4), so Zedekiah's years are the Book of Mormon's Jerusalem too.

Sources: “Zedekiah”, Bible Dictionary. Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Enrichment G: Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Context #

Judah's people in Egypt

The verse names a third group beside the king and the people at home: Jews living in Egypt.

The verse names a third group beside the king and the people at home: Jews living in Egypt. One reading is that they “during the war had fled thither to hide themselves from judgment”; the verse itself does not say when or why they went.

Jeremiah later addresses “all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt,” and says that “none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain” (Jer. 44:1, Jer. 44:14).

9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.

Related Scriptures #

Reproach, proverb, and curse

The words are those of the covenant curses. Deut. 28:37 warns that Israel “shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.”

The words are those of the covenant curses. Deut. 28:37 warns that Israel “shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.” The Church edition links this phrase to Deuteronomy and to 1 Ne. 19:14, where Nephi, reporting a prophet's words, says those who turn their hearts aside “shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations.”

Jeremiah repeats the figs and the curse for the same people in his letter to the exiles, in nearly the same words: “I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil” (Jer. 29:17).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Language #

Good and evil: one pair of words

The chapter is built on one Hebrew pair, tov (good) and ra' (bad, evil), and the KJV hides it by using several English words.

The chapter is built on one Hebrew pair, tov (good) and ra' (bad, evil), and the KJV hides it by using several English words. The good figs are tov and the bad figs are ra', in verse 2 and again in verse 3. “For their good” in verse 5 and “for good” in verse 6 are letovah; “for their hurt” in verse 9 is lera'ah, the same ra' in another form.

The word's basic sense is simply “bad, evil,” and the KJV renders it here “naughty” (verse 2), “evil” (verses 3 and 8), and “hurt” (verse 9). So the chapter's two outcomes are the same two words: the exiles receive tov, and the rest receive ra'.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 24

The chapter shows the Lord as the one who gives the heart: “I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord” (Jer. 24:7). The Church edition marks that verse with the Topical Guide's “Man, New, Spiritually Reborn,” and Jeremiah later says the Lord will write His law “in their hearts” (Jer. 31:33). Nephi connects the return from Babylon with the Messiah's later coming: the Jews will reject Him, be scattered, and be persuaded to “believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind,” and then “the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state” (2 Ne. 25:16–17).

Worth exploring next

Jeremiah's letter to the exiles, which gives the other side of this chapter: Jer. 29:1–19, including the “vile figs” of verse 17.
The vessels left in the temple, and what the Lord says will become of them: Jer. 27:19–22.
The promise to Ezekiel's fellow exiles: Ezek. 11:14–21.
Nephi on the Babylonian captivity and the return: 2 Ne. 25:9–17.

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
“Captivities of the Israelites”, Bible Dictionary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Ezekiel”, Bible Dictionary.
“Zedekiah”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 24: The Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 20–22; 24–29; 32; 34–45; 52; Lamentations), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Enrichment G: Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

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