Ezekiel 15
1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Yahweh gave me another message. [He said],
2 Son of man, What shall become of the wood of the vine more than of any other wood, of the branch which was standing among the trees of the forest?
“You human, the wood of a grapevine is certainly not [RHQ] more useful that the branches of the trees in a forest.
3 Can wood be taken therefrom to employ it for any work? or will men take from it a pin to hang thereon any vessel?
No one [RHQ] ever takes a branch of a grapevine and makes anything [useful] from it. No one [RHQ] even makes pegs from them to hang things on.
4 Behold, if it be given up to the fire to be consumed, —[and] the fire have consumed both its ends, and the middle of it be scorched; will it be fit for any work?
And after a branch of a grapevine is thrown into a fire, and the fire burns both ends and chars/scorches the branch in the middle, will it then be useful for anything?
5 Behold, when it was yet entire, it could not be employed for any work: how much more [must this be] when the fire hath consumed it, and it is scorched, —and shall it yet be employed for any work?
No; if it was not useful for anything before it was burned, it certainly cannot [made into something] useful after the fire has burned and charred it.
6 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given up to the fire to be consumed: so do I give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: The wood of grapevines is useful only for fuel in a fire. Similarly, the people who live in [are useless].
7 And I will set my face against them: from the fire have they gone forth, yet the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.
I will reject [IDM] them. [It will be as though] they have escaped from a fire, but there will still be a fire that will burn them up. And when I punish [EUP] them, you [people who remain alive] will know that I, Yahweh, [have done it].
8 And I will render the land a desert; because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord Eternal.
I will cause your country to become a wasteland because your people have not been loyal [to me. That is what I], Yahweh, the Lord, say.”
