24:1 巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒將猶大王約雅敬的兒子耶哥尼雅和猶大的首領，並工匠、鐵匠從耶路撒冷擄去，帶到巴比倫。這事以後，耶和華指給我看，有兩筐無花果放在耶和華的殿前。
24:2 一筐是極好的無花果，好像是初熟的；一筐是極壞的無花果，壞得不可吃。
24:3 於是耶和華問我說：「耶利米你看見甚麼？」我說：「我看見無花果，好的極好，壞的極壞，壞得不可吃。」
24:4 耶和華的話臨到我說：
24:5 「耶和華─以色列的上帝如此說：被擄去的猶大人，就是我打發離開這地到迦勒底人之地去的，我必看顧他們如這好無花果，使他們得好處。
24:6 我要眷顧他們，使他們得好處，領他們歸回這地。我也要建立他們，必不拆毀；栽植他們，並不拔出。
24:7 我要賜他們認識我的心，知道我是耶和華。他們要作我的子民，我要作他們的上帝，因為他們要一心歸向我。」
24:8 耶和華如此說：「我必將猶大王西底家和他的首領，以及剩在這地耶路撒冷的餘民，並住在埃及地的猶大人都交出來，好像那極壞、壞得不可吃的無花果。
24:9 我必使他們交出來，在天下萬國中拋來拋去，遭遇災禍；在我趕逐他們到的各處成為凌辱、笑談、譏刺、咒詛。
24:10 我必使刀劍、饑荒、瘟疫臨到他們，直到他們從我所賜給他們和他們列祖之地滅絕。」
After
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the
son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the
craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord
showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of
the Lord. One basket had very good figs,
like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they
could not be eaten. And the Lord said to
me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and
the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like
these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have
sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I
will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them
down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be
my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole
heart.
“But thus says the Lord: Like the bad figs
that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of
Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and
those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I
will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a
byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence
upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to
them and their fathers.”
************
先知耶利米這個比喻說明：上帝喜悅那些被擄的猶大百姓，不喜悅那些留下來的。所以用兩籃無花果來讓他們清楚感受得到，正如先知所說的：「我看見無花果，好的極好，壞的極壞，壞得不可吃。」
「被擄」在世人眼中是苦難，在上帝的眼中卻是祝福。「好的無花果」他們的心仍敬畏上帝，所以，上帝必照管他們，領他們歸回故土。「壞的無花果」代表還留在猶大國或逃到亡埃及的人，他們自以為是，認為留在猶大或逃到埃及必蒙祝福。這與他們的想法恰好相反，上帝乃要藉被擄的過程試鍊祂的百姓，看顧、賜福與他們。我們可能會認為生活順利就是蒙祝福，不順利就是受咒詛。然而，如果艱難困苦能令我們更加堅毅，逆境也是祝福；萬事順利若令我們離開上帝，順境也是咒詛。因此，遇到困境時，求上帝幫助我們為祂剛強起來；生活順利時， 求主教導我們善用機會親近祂。
也因為如此，我們不要貪圖表面的安逸，反要在隨時隨地仰望上帝，求上帝賜下夠用的恩典，來勝過環境的考驗，使我們處處都可見證上帝的作為，使上帝的名得著榮耀！
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