Jeremias 24:3
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.
Open Jeremias 24:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- 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.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς μέ Τί σὺ ὁρᾷς, Ἰερεμία; καὶ εἶπα Σῦκα· τὰ χρηστά, χρηστὰ λίαν, καὶ τὰ πονηρά, πονηρὰ λίαν, ἃ οὐ βρωθήσεται ἀπὸ πονηρίας αὐτῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י מָֽה אַתָּ֤ה רֹאֶה֙ יִרְמְיָ֔הוּ וָאֹמַ֖ר תְּאֵנִ֑ים הַתְּאֵנִ֤ים הַטֹּבוֹת֙ טֹב֣וֹת מְאֹ֔ד וְהָֽרָעוֹת֙ רָע֣וֹת מְאֹ֔ד אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא תֵאָכַ֖לְנָה מֵרֹֽעַ
The Fathers on this verse
St Methodius The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity, Chapter V
For we find in the Sacred Writings that there are two kinds of fig-trees and vines, “the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil;” “wine that maketh glad the heart of man,” and wine which is the poison of dragons, and the incurable venom of asps. But from the time when chastity began to rule over men, the fraud was detected and overcome, Christ, the chief of virgins, overturning it. So both the true fig-tree and the true vine yield fruit after that the power of chastity has laid hold upon all men, as Joel the prophet preaches, saying: “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
3. However, I do not wish to make light of your gifts, least of all the basket of fine cherries, blushing with such a virgin modesty that I can fancy them freshly gathered by Lucullus himself. For it was he who first introduced the fruit at Rome after his conquest of Pontus and Armenia; and the cherry tree is so called because he brought it from Cerasus. Now as the Scriptures do not mention cherries, but do speak of a basket of figs, I will use these instead to point my moral. May you be made of fruits such as those which grow before God’s temple and of which He says, “Behold they are good, very good.” The Saviour likes nothing that is half and half, and, while he welcomes the hot and does not shun the cold, he tells us in the Apocalypse that he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth. …