this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh 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.
- KJV Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
- BSB this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will send against them sword and famine and plague, and I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten.
- NKJV thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
- NLT This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, 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
God promises to send sword, famine, and pestilence on Jerusalem, making its people like rotten figs unfit to eat. Their judgment will be total.
Overview
The image of vile, inedible figs recalls Jeremiah's earlier vision (chapter 24), where the bad figs represented those who would be destroyed rather than refined. The threefold judgment of sword, famine, and pestilence is the LORD's covenant curse on persistent rebellion. It is a sobering reminder that sin unrepented brings ruin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 24:8–10“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely Yahweh says, ‘So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
- Jer 29:18I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;
- Luke 21:11There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
- Ezek 14:12–21Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Jer 43:11He will come, and will strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death shall be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword.
- Jer 24:1–3Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
- Jer 34:17–22Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says Yahweh, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Jer 52:6In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
- Jer 27:8“‘“‘It will happen that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
- Jer 15:2–3It shall happen, when they tell you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’
- Ezek 5:12–17A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
- Luke 21:23Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.
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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 29:17 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
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