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.

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.

After king Nabuchodonosor, of Babylon, had carried off the king of Juda, Jechonias the son of Joachim, and taken him away to Babylon with all his nobles, and all the carpenters and smiths in Jerusalem, the Lord shewed me a vision. I saw two baskets of figs, set down at the gate of the Lord’s temple.

Calathus unus ficus bonas habebat nimis, ut solent ficus esse primi temporis: et calathus unus ficus habebat malas nimis, quæ comedi non poterant eo quod essent malæ.

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.

The figs in one basket were of excellent nature, like those which first ripen; in the other, most foul, so foul there was no eating them.

Et dixit Dominus ad me: Quid tu vides, Jeremia? Et dixi: Ficus, ficus bonas, bonas valde: et malas, malas valde, quæ comedi non possunt eo quod sint malæ.

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.

What seest thou, Jeremias? the Lord asked, and I told him, Figs, the good ones excellent good, the foul ones very foul, too foul for eating.

Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Then the Lord’s word came to me,

Hæc dicit Dominus Deus Israël: Sicut ficus hæ bonæ, sic cognoscam transmigrationem Juda, quam emisi de loco isto in terram Chaldæorum, in bonum.

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.

A message from the Lord God of Israel: This meaning the good figs have, that good will of mine goes with the men of Juda I have banished from their homes, and sent away into the country of Chaldaea.

Et ponam oculos meos super eos ad placandum, et reducam eos in terram hanc: et ædificabo eos, et non destruam: et plantabo eos, et non evellam.

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.

I will smile on them once more, and bring them back home, and all will be building now, not pulling down, planting now, not uprooting.

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.

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.

And I will give them a heart to know me, know me by my divine name; they my people, and I their God, once in good earnest they have retraced their steps, and come back to me.

Et sicut ficus pessimæ quæ comedi non possunt eo quod sint malæ, hæc dicit Dominus: Sic dabo Sedeciam regem Juda, et principes ejus, et reliquos de Jerusalem, qui remanserunt in urbe hac, et qui habitant in terra Ægypti.

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.

And this meaning the foul figs have, that could not be eaten, they were so foul. Doom like theirs I have in store for Sedecias, king of Juda, the Lord says, and for his nobles, and for all those other men of Jerusalem that have either stayed in the city or taken up their abode in Egypt.

Et dabo eos in vexationem, afflictionemque omnibus regnis terræ, in opprobrium, et in parabolam, et in proverbium, et in maledictionem in universis locis ad quæ ejeci eos.

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.

Trouble and conflict their destiny shall be in every kingdom of the world; they shall be a laughing-stock and a warning, a by-word and a name to curse by, in all the countries I have appointed for their banishment.

Et mittam in eis gladium, et famem, et pestem, donec consumantur de terra quam dedi eis et patribus eorum.

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.

Sword and famine and pestilence I will let loose upon them, till none of them is left in this land, my gift to them and to their fathers.