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I will look after their welfare[a] and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land[b] and will not uproot them.[c] I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I[d] am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly[e] return to me.’

“I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 24:6 tn Heb “I will set my eyes upon them for good.” For the nuance of “good” see Jer 21:10 and Amos 9:4 (in these cases the opposite of harm; see BDB 375 s.v. טוֹבָה 1).
  2. Jeremiah 24:6 tn The words “There” and “firmly in the land” are not in the text but are implicit from the connection and the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  3. Jeremiah 24:6 sn For these terms see Jer 1:10.
  4. Jeremiah 24:7 tn Heb “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.” For the use of “heart” here referring to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will,” see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב 4 and compare the usage in 2 Chr 12:14. For the use of “know” to mean “acknowledge,” see BDB 384 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 39:4. For the construction “know ‘someone’ that he…” = “know that ‘someone’…,” see GKC 365 §117.h and compare the usage in 2 Sam 3:25.
  5. Jeremiah 24:7 tn Heb “with all their heart.”
  6. Jeremiah 24:8 tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad], surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem that remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like,” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6 and Gen 42:30.