Under the type of good and bad figs, he foretells the restoration of the Jews that had been carried away captive with Jechonias, and the desolation of those that were left behind.

 1 The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, and his chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
Ostendit mihi Dominus : et ecce duo calathi pleni ficis, positi ante templum Domini, postquam transtulit Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis Jechoniam filium Joakim, regem Juda, et principes ejus, et fabrum, et inclusorem, de Jerusalem, et adduxit eos in Babylonem.

 2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, because they were bad.
Calathus unus ficus bonas habebat nimis, ut solent ficus esse primi temporis : et calathus unus ficus habebat malas nimis, quae comedi non poterant eo quod essent malae.

 3 And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten because they are bad.
Et dixit Dominus ad me : Quid tu vides, Jeremia? Et dixi : Ficus, ficus bonas, bonas valde : et malas, malas valde, quae comedi non possunt eo quod sint malae.

 4 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens :

 5 Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.
Haec dicit Dominus Deus Israel : Sicut ficus hae bonae, sic cognoscam transmigrationem Juda, quam emisi de loco isto in terram Chaldaeorum, in bonum.

 6 And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Et ponam oculos meos super eos ad placandum, et reducam eos in terram hanc : et aedificabo eos, et non destruam : et plantabo eos, et non evellam.

 7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Et dabo eis cor ut sciant me, quia ego sum Dominus : et erunt mihi in populum, et ego ero eis in Deum, quia revertentur ad me in toto corde suo.

 8 And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.
Et sicut ficus pessimae quae comedi non possunt, eo quod sint malae : haec dicit Dominus : sic dabo Sedeciam, regem Juda, et principes ejus, et reliquos de Jerusalem, qui remanserunt in urbe hac, et qui habitant in terra Aegypti.

 9 And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all the kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a proverb, and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them out.
Et dabo eos in vexationem, afflictionemque omnibus regnis terrae, in opprobrium, et in parabolam, et in proverbium, et in maledictionem in universis locis ad quae ejeci eos.

 10 And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them, and their fathers.
Et mittam in eis gladium, et famem, et pestem, donec consumantur de terra quam dedi eis et patribus eorum.