Bilingual reading

The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the LORD’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.

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.

Then the LORD 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 they can’t be eaten.”

The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“The LORD, 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, as good.

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.

I 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 their whole heart.

“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely the LORD 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.

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.

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.’”

أَرانِيَ الرَّبُّ قُفَّتَي تينٍ مَوضوعَتَينِ أَمامَ هَيكَلِ الرَّبّ، بَعدَ أَن جَلا نَبوكَدنَصَّر، مَلِكُ بابِل، يَكُنْيا بنَ يوياقيم، مَلِكَ يَهوذا، ورُؤَساءَ يَهوذا والحَدَّادينَ والقَفَّالينَ مِن أُورَشَليم، وأَتى بِهم إِلى بابِل

وكانَ في القُفَّةِ الأُولى تينٌ طَيِّبٌ جِدًّا كباكورَةِ التِّين، وفي القُفَّةِ الثَّانِيَةِ تينٌ خَبيثٌ جِدًّا لا يُمكِنُ أَكلُه مِن خَباثَتِه

فقالَ لِيَ الرَّبّ: «ماذا تَرى يا إِرِميا؟» فقُلتُ: «تينًا، التِّينُ الطَّيِّبُ مِنه طَيِّبٌ جِدًّا، والخَبيثُ خَبيثٌ جِدًّا لا يُمكِنُ أَكلُه مِن خَباثَتِه»

فكانَت إِلَيَّ كَلِمَةُ الرَّبِّ قائلًا

هٰكذا قالَ الرَّبّ، إِلٰهُ إِسْرائيل: مِثْلَ هٰذا التِّينِ الطَّيِّبِ أَجعَلُ نَظَري إِلى مَجلُوِّي يَهوذا الَّذينَ أَرسَلتُهم مِن هٰذا المَكانِ إِلى أَرضِ الكَلْدانِيِّينَ لِخَيرِهم

وأَجعَلُ عَينَيَّ علَيهم لِخَيرِهم، وأُرجِعُهم إِلى هٰذه الأَرض، وأَبْنيهم ولا أَهدِمُهم، وأَغرِسُهم ولا أَقلَعُهم

وأُعطيهم قَلبًا لِيَعرِفوا أَنِّي أَنا الرَّبّ، ويَكونونَ لي شَعبًا وأَكونُ أَنا لَهم إِلْهًا، لِأَنَّهم يَرجِعونَ إِلَيَّ بِكُلِّ قُلوبِهم

أَمَّا التِّينُ الخَبيثُ الَّذي لا يُمكِنُ أَكلُه مِن خَباثَتِه، فهٰكَذا قالَ الرَّبّ: كذٰلك أَجعَلُ صِدقِيَّا، مَلِكَ يَهوذا، ورُؤَساءَه وبَقِيَّةَ أُورَشَليم، الَّذينَ بَقوا في هٰذه الأَرضِ والسَّاكِنينَ في أَرضِ مِصر

أَجعَلُهم مَوضِعَ رُعبٍ وبَلْوى لِجَميعِ مَمالِكِ الأَرض، وعارًا ومَثَلًا وأُحْدوثَةً ولَعَنَةً في جَميعِ الأَماكِنِ الَّتي دَفَعتُهم إِلَيها

وأُرسِلُ علَيهمِ السَّيفَ والجوعَ والطَّاعونَ، حتَّى يَفنَوا في الأَرضِ الَّتي أَعطَيتُها لَهم ولِآبائِهم