Jezekiel 15

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

A message from the Lord came to me, saying,

2 And you, son of man—of all the wood, of the branches that are among the trees of the forest, what shall be made of the wood of the vine?

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

3 Will they take wood of it to make [it fit] for work? will they take of it a peg to hang any vessel upon it?

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 It is only given to the fire to be consumed; the fire consumes that which is yearly pruned of it, and it is utterly gone. Will it be useful 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 Not even while it is yet whole will it be [useful] for [any] work: if the fire shall have utterly consumed it, will it still be [fit] for 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 say, Thus says the Lord, As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given up to the fire to be consumed, so have I given up 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 of the fire, and [yet] fire shall devour them; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 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 give up the land to ruin, because they have utterly transgressed, says the Lord.

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