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Chapter 15[a]

The Useless Vine. This word of the Lord came to me:

Son of man, how is the wood of the vine
    better than any other wood,
    the vine branch from a tree in the forest?
Is its wood used to make anything?
    Are pegs fashioned from it to hang anything?
If it is thrown on the fire for fuel,
    and the fire consumes both ends and chars the middle,
    is it useful for anything?
When it was whole,
    it served no purpose.
How much less, when the fire has consumed it
    and it is charred,
    can it be used for anything?

Therefore, thus says the Lord God:

Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest
    that I have thrown on the fire for fuel,
    so will I treat the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I have set my face against them.
    Although they escape from the fire,
    that fire will still devour them.
And you will know that I am the Lord
    when I turn my face against them.
I will reduce the entire land into a desolate waste
    because they have been unfaithful,
    says the Lord God.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 15:1 Ezekiel likes allegories and parables (Ezek 17:2). We have already met in Isaiah, the song of the disappointed vineyard owner (Isa 5:7). A vineyard was valuable for its fruit, not for its wood.