1After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD!
1巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒將猶大王約雅敬的兒子耶哥尼雅和猶大的首領，並工匠、鐵匠從耶路撒冷擄去，帶到巴比倫。這事以後，耶和華指給我看，有兩筐無花果放在耶和華的殿前。
2One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.
2一筐是極好的無花果，好像是初熟的；一筐是極壞的無花果，壞得不可吃。
3Then the LORD said to me, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said, 'Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad [figs], very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.'
3於是耶和華問我說：耶利米你看見甚麼？我說：我看見無花果，好的極好，壞的極壞，壞得不可吃。
4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
4耶和華的話臨到我說：
5'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place [into] the land of the Chaldeans.
5耶和華─以色列的神如此說：被擄去的猶大人，就是我打發離開這地到迦勒底人之地去的，我必看顧他們如這好無花果，使他們得好處。
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.
6我要眷顧他們，使他們得好處，領他們歸回這地。我也要建立他們，必不拆毀；栽植他們，並不拔出。
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.
7我要賜他們認識我的心，知道我是耶和華。他們要作我的子民，我要作他們的神，因為他們要一心歸向我。
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.
8耶和華如此說：我必將猶大王西底家和他的首領，以及剩在這地耶路撒冷的餘民，並住在埃及地的猶大人都交出來，好像那極壞、壞得不可吃的無花果。
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.
9我必使他們交出來，在天下萬國中拋來拋去，遭遇災禍；在我趕逐他們到的各處成為凌辱、笑談、譏刺、咒詛。
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.''
10我必使刀劍、饑荒、瘟疫臨到他們，直到他們從我所賜給他們和他們列祖之地滅絕。