One 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
- KJV One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
- BSB One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
- NKJV One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
- NLT One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
One basket holds very good, first-ripe figs; the other holds figs too rotten to eat. The stark contrast sets up two destinies for two groups.
Overview
The two baskets present a vivid contrast between excellent early figs and figs so spoiled they are worthless. This imagery becomes the framework for God's surprising verdict on the exiles versus those remaining in the land. The good and bad figs picture how God evaluates people not by appearances but by His sovereign purpose and their hearts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 5:4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Mic 7:1Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
- Hos 9:10I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
- Jer 29:17Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.
- Matt 5:13“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
- Ezek 15:2–5“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Jer 24:5–10“Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
- Mal 1:12–14“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 24:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.