What does the chapter actually say?
Identify the explicit claims before importing later doctrine or assumptions.
JEREMIAH • CHAPTER 24
Jeremiah 24
Jerusalem's final decades, prophetic opposition, Babylon, covenant failure, lament, judgment, and the promise of restoration.
READ THE CHAPTER
Jeremiah 24
WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE
The complete biblical text below is stored on this website.
You do not need to leave The Bible for Smart People to read it.
1
Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before Yahweh’s temple, after 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.
2
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.
3
Then Yahweh asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that can’t be eaten.”
4
Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
5
“Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6
For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh. They will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with their whole heart.
8
“ ‘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.
9
I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them.
10
I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’ ”
PROPHETIC
Where this chapter fits
Jeremiah uses prophetic or apocalyptic language shaped by political crisis, judgment, hope, symbolic imagery, and expectations about God's action in history.
Chapter numbers were added long after the biblical books were written.
Read this chapter together with what comes immediately before and after it.
ANCIENT TEXT, MODERN QUESTIONS
Historical claims should be compared with historical evidence.
Scientific claims should be compared with science.
Moral claims should be examined morally.
Theological claims require theological and philosophical argument.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Don't skip the hard parts.
What kind of literature is this?
Narrative, poetry, prophecy, law, letters, wisdom, and apocalypse communicate differently.
What historical evidence matters?
Ask whether names, places, institutions, events, customs, and chronology can be independently investigated.
What are the strongest competing interpretations?
Compare serious Jewish, Christian, academic, and skeptical readings rather than caricatures.
CONTINUE THE INVESTIGATION
You've reached the member analysis.
You can keep reading every Bible chapter on this site for free.
Membership unlocks the deeper analysis, historical context, competing interpretations, perspectives, and conclusion.
WANT TO KEEP READING FOR FREE?
Continue to Jeremiah 25
The complete biblical text of the next chapter is free to read.
You only need membership when you want the deeper analysis and side-by-side investigation.
READ NEXT CHAPTER FREEUNLOCK THE ANALYSIS
Already a member?
Sign in to continue →