2. One basket contained excellent figs, those that ripen early. But the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
3. Then the Lord said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? “Figs,” I replied; “the good ones are very good, but the bad ones very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”
4. Thereupon this word of the Lord came to me:
5. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, I will also regard with favor Judah’s exiles whom I sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.
6. I will look after them for good and bring them back to this land, to build them up, not tear them down; to plant them, not uproot them.