Jeremiah 24:8

8 'But like the 1bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness -indeed, thus says the LORD -so I will abandon 2Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the 3remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of 4Egypt.

Jeremiah 24:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 24:8

And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil,
&c.] Here follows an explication of the evil figs, and an application of them to the wicked Jews: surely thus saith the Lord, so will I give Zedekiah the king of
Judah;
who was then the reigning king of Judah, Jeconiah's father's brother; whom the king of Babylon had made king in his stead, and changed his name from Mattaniah to Zedekiah, ( 2 Kings 24:17 ) ; him the Lord threatens to give up to ruin and destruction, or to deliver into the hands of the enemy: and his princes, and the residue of them, that remain in this land;
the rest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem that continued in the land of Judea, and were not carried captive: and them that dwell in the land of Egypt;
who had fled thither for safety upon the invasion of their land, and besieging their city; all these being like to the bad figs, exceeding evil and wicked, are threatened to be delivered into the hands of their enemies, though they might think themselves safe and secure where they were.

Jeremiah 24:8 In-Context

6 'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7 'I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD ; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
8 'But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness -indeed, thus says the LORD -so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.
9 'I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.
10 'I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.' "

Cross References 4

  • 1. Jeremiah 29:17
  • 2. Jeremiah 39:5; Ezekiel 12:12, 13
  • 3. Jeremiah 39:9
  • 4. Jer 44:1, 26-30

Footnotes 1

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