Jeremiah 24:2-7

24:2 One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. 1  The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten. 24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

24:4 The Lord said to me, 2  24:5 “I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon 3  are like those good figs. I consider them to be good. 24:6 I will look after their welfare 4  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land 5  and will not uproot them. 6  24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I 7  am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly 8  return to me.’

1 sn See Isa 28:4; Hos 9:10.

2 tn Heb “The word of the Lord came to me.”

3 tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4.

4 tn Heb “I will set my eyes upon them for good.” For the nuance of “good” see Jer 21:10; Amos 9:4 (in these cases the opposite of harm; see BDB 375 s.v. טוֹבָה 1).

5 tn The words “There” and “firmly in the land” are not in the text but are implicit from the connection and the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

6 sn For these terms see Jer 1:10.

7 tn Heb “I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord.” For the use of “heart” here referring to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will” see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב 4 and compare the usage in 2 Chr 12:14. For the use of “know” to mean “acknowledge” see BDB 384 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 39:4. For the construction “know ‘someone’ that he…” = “know that ‘someone’…” see GKC 365 §117.h and compare the usage in 2 Sam 3:25.

8 tn Heb “with all their heart.”