Ezekiel 15

1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

A message from the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, what is the wood of the vine more than any wood, the vine-branch, which is among the trees of the forest?

“Son of man, is wood from a vine better than the wood from any other tree in the forest?

3 Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will [men] take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

Can you make anything useful from vine wood? Can you use it to make even just a peg to hang up pots and pans?

4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel: the fire consumeth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned; is it fit for [any] work?

No, you just throw it on the fire to keep the fire burning. Even then the fire burns both ends, but only chars the middle part. Can you use it for anything?

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was used for no work; how much less when the fire hath consumed it, and it is burned, should it yet be used for any work?

Even before you burned it you couldn't make it into anything useful. It's even less useful once the fire has burned and charred it!

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

So this is what the Lord God says: In the same way that I have taken the wood of a vine from the forest and thrown it on the fire to be burned, so I'm going to throw away the people of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set my face against them: they shall go forth from [one] fire, and [another] fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah when I set my face against them.

I will turn against them. While they might have escaped this fire, another fire is going to burn them up. When I turn against them, then you will know that I am the Lord.

8 And I will make the land a desolation, because they have wrought unfaithfulness, saith the Lord Jehovah.

I'm going to turn the country into a wasteland, because they were unfaithful to me, declares the Lord God.”