Ezekiel 15

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

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 “Son of man, what can be made from the stalk of a vine, compared to all the plants of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?

“Son of man, how is a vine better than any tree with branches that is among the trees in a forest?

3 Can any wood be taken from it, so that it may be made into a work, or formed into a peg so as to hang some kind of vessel upon it?

Do people take wood from a vine to make anything? Or do they make a peg from it to hang anything on it?

4 Behold, it is used in the fire as fuel. The fire consumes both its ends; and its middle is reduced to ashes. So how can it be useful for any work?

See! If it is thrown into a fire as fuel, and if the fire has burned both of its ends and also the middle, is it good for anything?

5 Even when it was whole, it was unsuitable for a work. How much more so, when fire has devoured it and burned it up, will nothing of it be useful?

See! When it was complete, it could not make anything; surely then, when the fire has burned, then it still will not make anything useful.

6 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Like the stalk of the vine among the trees of the forests, which I have given to be devoured by fire, so will I deliver the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this: Unlike the trees in the forests, I have given the vine as fuel for fires; I will act in the same way toward the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set my face against them. They will go away from fire, and yet fire will consume them. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have set my face against them,

For I will set my face against them. Though they come out from the fire, yet the fire will consume them; so you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.

8 and when I will have made their land impassable and desolate. For they have stood forth as transgressors, says the Lord God.”

Then I will make the land into an abandoned wasteland because they have committed sin—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.”