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Jeremiah 24

Jeremiah 24 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Jeremiah 24 uses a vision of two baskets of figs to explain how God views the people of Judah after the exile to Babylon. The chapter shows both mercy toward the exiles and judgment on the leaders who remained in Jerusalem and Egypt.

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What happens in Jeremiah 24?

After Jeconiah and other leaders are carried to Babylon, Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs placed before the temple. The good figs picture the exiles taken away, whom God promises to watch over, bring back, and restore. He says he will build them up, plant them, and give them hearts that know him. The bad figs picture Zedekiah, his officials, and the remaining people in Judah and Egypt. For them, God announces disgrace, fear, and coming destruction.

This chapter follows the warnings of Jeremiah 23 and comes before further judgment messages in Jeremiah 25. It belongs to the period after the first deportation to Babylon, when the nation was divided between those taken away and those left in the land. The vision explains that outward circumstances do not tell the full story of God's purpose.

Themes to notice

  • Divine perspectiveGod explains the true meaning of the exile, showing that his judgment and care are both purposeful.
  • Hope for exilesThe people taken to Babylon are promised future restoration, planting, and renewed relationship with God.
  • Judgment on rebellionThose who stayed behind in Judah and Egypt are warned of disgrace and severe loss.

Questions for Jeremiah 24

  • What do the two baskets of figs show about how God sees different groups in Judah?
  • Why does God promise both discipline and future restoration to the exiles?
  • What does this chapter suggest about the difference between appearance and God's actual verdict?

Read the full text of Jeremiah 24 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Jeremiah 24

The Good and Bad Figs

1After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.2One 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.

3“Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,5“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.6I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.7I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

8But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.10And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”

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