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Jeremiah 24:3

in Jeremiah 24

“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.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said Jehovah unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

KJV

Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

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This verse in Jeremiah 24

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had

on Jeremiah 24:1-3

The vision is dated after Nebuchadnezzar carried Jeconiah to Babylon and the two baskets stand “in front of the temple of the LORD.” One basket holds figs “like those that ripen early,” and the other holds figs “so bad they could not be eaten.”

This site's exposition

what do you see

The LORD asks the same question He asked at Jeremiah's call, when he saw an almond branch and a boiling pot (1:11-13). Jeremiah names only what is in front of him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note on verse 2 that good and bad are meant by comparison.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Methodius of Olympus

SYMPOSIUM OR BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 10:5 · Written before 311.

proposed

The fig tree can be taken as a type of the delights of paradise due to the sweetness and excellence of its fruit. The devil beguiled the man by imitating it and then led him captive, persuading him to conceal the nakedness of his body by fig leaves.… The enemy, by his power, always imitates the forms of virtue and righteousness, not for the purpose of truly promoting its exercise but for deception and hypocrisy. He camouflages himself with the colors of immortality in order to entice those who are fleeing from death to embrace death.

A commentator

Shepherd of Hermas

Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment 6 · Written before 160.

proposed

"I gave you," he said, "directions in the first commandment to attend to faith, and fear, and self-restraint." "Even so, sir," said I. And he said, "Now I wish to show you the powers of these, that you may know what power each possesses. For their powers are double, and have relation alike to the righteous and the unrighteous. Trust you, therefore, the righteous, but put no trust in the unrighteous. For the path of righteousness is straight, but that of unrighteousness is crooked. But walk in the straight and even way, and mind not the crooked. For the crooked path has no roads, but has many pathless places and stumbling-blocks in it, and it is rough and thorny. It is injurious to those who walk therein. But they who walk in the straight road walk evenly without stumbling, because it is neither rough nor thorny. You see, then, that it is better to walk in this road." "I wish to go by this road," said I. "You will go by it," said he; "and whoever turns to the Lord with all his heart will walk in it."

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter XXIV. - Verse 1ff.) The Lord showed me, and behold, two baskets (or baskets) full of figs, placed before the temple of the Lord. After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes, the craftsmen, and the captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that ripen early, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were bad. And the Lord said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah?

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Then said the Lord unto me, what seest thou, Jeremiah?....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

like the first ripe figs that have ripened completely in the beginning of the ripening of the figs which are dear to all those who find them in their beginning.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 24:2:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֜הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֵלַ֗יto me

    ʾelaiH413 →5510 times

  • מָֽה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • אַתָּ֤ה[are] you

    ʾatahH859 →1094 times

  • רֹאֶה֙seeing

    roehH7200 →1300 times

  • יִרְמְיָ֔הוּO Jeremiah

    yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times

  • וָאֹמַ֖רand I said

    vaomarH559 →5305 times

  • תְּאֵנִ֑יםfigs

    teenimH8384 →39 times

  • הַתְּאֵנִ֤יםthe figs

    hateenimH8384 →39 times

  • הַטֹּבוֹת֙<the> good

    hatotH2896 →538 times

  • טֹב֣וֹת[are] good

    tovotH2896 →538 times

  • מְאֹ֔דvery

    meodH3966 →300 times

  • וְהָֽרָעוֹת֙and the bad [figs]

    veharaotH7451 →662 times

  • רָע֣וֹת[are] bad

    raotH7451 →662 times

  • מְאֹ֔דvery

    meodH3966 →300 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • תֵאָכַ֖לְנָהthey will be eaten

    teakhalnahH398 →810 times

  • מֵרֹֽעַ׃ פfrom badness

    meroa'H7455 →19 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 1:11And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.7 worksAmos 8:2“Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”4 worksZechariah 4:2“What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.3 worksZechariah 5:5–11Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”3 worksMatthew 25:32–33All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.3 works1 Samuel 9:9(Formerly in Israel, a man on his way to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer.” For the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.)2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
Amos 7:8“Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:2 worksZechariah 5:2“What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”0 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Zechariah 4:2

    “What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 4:5

      From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God.

    • Revelation 1:12

      Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,

    • Matthew 5:14–16

      You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

    • Exodus 25:31–38

      Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.

    • Jeremiah 52:19

      The captain of the guard also took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver.

  • Through

    Amos 8:2

    “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”

    it leads to

    • Amos 7:8

      “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

    • Lamentations 4:18

      They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!

    • Micah 7:1

      Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah: the study guide →Read Jeremiah 24 →

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Methodius of Olympus, SYMPOSIUM OR BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 10:5 and Shepherd of Hermas, Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment 6.

Read on in Jeremiah 24 →