Ezekiel 15
1 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
I puta mai ano te kupu a Ihowa ki ahau, i mea,
2 “Son of man, how is a vine better than any tree with branches that is among the trees in a forest?
E te tama a te tangata, he aha te nuinga ake o te waina i nga rakau katoa, o te manga waina i roto i nga rakau o te ngahere?
3 Do people take wood from a vine to make anything? Or do they make a peg from it to hang anything on it?
E tangohia mai ranei tetahi wahi o reira, hei mahinga i tetahi mahi? e tangohia ranei tetahi titi i reira hei whakairi mo tetahi mea?
4 See! If it is thrown into a fire as fuel, and if the fire has burned both of its ends and also the middle, is it good for anything?
Nana, e maka ana ki te ahi hei wahie; pau ake i te ahi ona pito e rua, wera iho a waenganui; he pai ranei mo tetahi mahi?
5 See! When it was complete, it could not make anything; surely then, when the fire has burned, then it still will not make anything useful.
Nana, i tona toitutanga, kihai i pai mo tetahi mahi; katahi ka he rawa mo tetahi mahi a muri ake nei, i te mea ka kaia nei e te ahi, a ka wera?
6 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this: Unlike the trees in the forests, I have given the vine as fuel for fires; I will act in the same way toward the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Mo reira ko te kupu tenei a te Ariki, a Ihowa, Ka rite ki taua rakau, ki te waina i roto i nga rakau o te ngahere, i tukua ra e ahau ki te ahi hei wahie, ka pera taku tukunga atu i nga tangata o Hiruharama.
7 For I will set my face against them. Though they come out from the fire, yet the fire will consume them; so you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.
Ka u atu ano toku mata hei he mo ratou. Ka puta mai ratou i te ahi, otiia ma te ahi ano ratou e kai: a ka mohio koutou ko Ihowa ahau, ina u atu toku mata ki te he mo ratou.
8 Then I will make the land into an abandoned wasteland because they have committed sin—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.”
Ka meinga ano e ahau te whenua hei ururua mo te he i he ai ratou, e ai ta te Ariki, ta Ihowa.
