Ezekiel 15
1 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
Yahweh gave me another message. [He said],
2 “Son of man, What is the vine-tree more than any tree? The vine-branch that has been, Among 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 Is wood taken from it to use for work? Do they take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?
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, it has been given to the fire for fuel, The fire has eaten its two ends, And its midst has been scorched! Is it profitable for 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, in its being perfect it is not used for work, How much less when fire has eaten of it, And it is scorched, Has it been used yet for 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 said Lord YHWH: “As the vine-tree among trees of the forest, That I have given to the fire for fuel, So I have given 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 have set My face against them, They have gone forth from the fire, And the fire consumes them, And you have known that I [am] YHWH, In My setting 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 have made the land a desolation, Because they have committed a trespass,” A declaration of Lord YHWH!
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.”
