Jeremiah 24:5-10

5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, ¹whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6 ²I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. ³I will build them up, and not tear them down; ⁴I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7 ⁵I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, ⁶and they shall be my people ⁷and I will be their God, ⁸for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 “But thus says the Lord: Like ⁹the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat ¹⁰Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who ¹¹dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them ¹²a horror^[a] to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be ¹³a reproach, ¹⁴a byword, ¹⁵a taunt, and ¹⁶a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

10 And I will send ¹⁷sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers. ”

Jeremiah 24:5-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 24

This chapter contains a vision of two baskets of figs, representing the Jews both in captivity, and at Jerusalem. The vision is declared, Jer 24:1-3; where both time and place are pointed at, in which the vision was seen, and the nature of the figs described, and what passed between the Lord and the prophet concerning them. The explication of the vision begins, Jer 24:4; and continues to the end of the chapter. The good figs were an emblem of the good people that were carried captive with Jeconiah into Babylon, which the Lord says was for their good; and he promises to own them, and set his eyes upon them for good, and that they should return to their own land, and have a heart to know him as their God, and return unto him, Jer 24:5-7; the bad figs signify the people that were with Zedekiah at Jerusalem, and those that were in Egypt, who are threatened to be carried captive into all lands, and there live under the greatest reproach and disgrace; or be destroyed in their own land by the sword, famine, or pestilence, Jer 24:8-10.

Cross References

• 1. 24:5 ch. 29:20
• 2. 24:6 [Amos 9:4]
• 3. 24:6 ch. 12:15; 29:10
• 4. 24:6 ch. 31:28; 42:10; [ch. 1:10; Amos 9:15]
• 5. 24:7 ch. 32:39; Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26, 27
• 6. 24:7 See ch. 30:22; 31:33
• 7. 24:7 See ch. 30:22; 31:33
• 8. 24:7 ch. 29:13; Joel 2:12, 13
• 9. 24:8 ver. 2; ch. 29:17
• 10. 24:8 ch. 21:1
• 11. 24:8 See ch. 43–44
• 12. 24:9 See ch. 15:4
• 13. 24:9 ch. 29:18; 49:13; Neh. 2:17; Isa. 43:28
• 14. 24:9 Deut. 28:37; 2 Chr. 7:20
• 15. 24:9 ch. 29:18; 49:13; Neh. 2:17; Isa. 43:28
• 16. 24:9 ch. 25:18; 26:6; 29:22; 2 Kgs. 22:19
• 17. 24:10 See ch. 14:12

Footnotes

• [a] 24:9 Compare Septuagint; Hebrew 'horror for evil'