“Look! Two baskets of figs.” Jeremiah uses the good and the bad figs to illustrate a faithful remnant returning to their land in God’s favor and another class coming to a calamitous finish.​—24:1, 5, 8-10.

24. (a) What message does Jeremiah send to the exiles in Babylon? (b) With whom will Jehovah conclude a new covenant, and how will this prove to be grander than the former covenant?

²⁴ Comfort for the exiles in Babylon (29:1–31:40). Jeremiah writes to the exiles taken to Babylon with Jeconiah (Jehoiachin): Settle down there, for before Jehovah brings you back, there is coming a period of 70 years of exile. Jehovah commands Jeremiah to write of their return in a book: Jehovah will break their yoke, and “they will certainly serve Jehovah their God and David their king, whom I [Jehovah] shall raise up for them.” (30:9) Rachel must hold her voice back from weeping, for her sons “will certainly return from the land of the enemy.” (31:16) And now, a reassuring declaration by Jehovah! He will conclude with the houses of Judah and Israel a new covenant. Far grander this than the covenant they have broken! Jehovah will write his law deep down inside, on their hearts. “And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.” From the least to the greatest, all will know Jehovah, and he will forgive their error. (31:31-34) Their city will be rebuilt as something holy to Jehovah.