Bible Strands
Jeremiah 24:3
“Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Jeremiah immediately after the vision of two baskets of figs detailed in Jeremiah 24:2. God initiates the inquiry to prompt Jeremiah’s direct observation of the scene.
The words — The Hebrew phrase מָֽה־ אַתָּ֤ה רֹאֶה֙ (mah- 'a.Tah ro.'Eh) literally renders as “what [are] you seeing,” explicitly retaining the second-person pronoun אַתָּ֤ה ('a.Tah) for “you.” This structure directly links the interrogative to the subject before the active participle.
The thread — This prophetic “What do you see?” exchange pattern recurs in Amos 8:2, Jeremiah 1:11, and Zechariah 4:2. Each instance uses the identical divine inquiry to introduce a symbolic vision.
Why it lands — The text states the figs’ condition without interpretation, leaving the assessment of their quality to the observer. It requires the reader to examine the supplied vision carefully before receiving divine explanation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Cross-references
- Amos 8:2 “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
- Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- Zechariah 4:2 “What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.
- Zechariah 5:5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”
- Matthew 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- 1 Samuel 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, a man on his way to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer.” For the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.)
- Amos 7:8 “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
- Zechariah 5:2 “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”