Ezekiel 15

¹ Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

² Son of man, what makes the wood of the vine better than any other wood? That branch among the trees of the forest!

³ Can you use its wood to make anything worthwhile? Can you make even a peg from it, to hang on it any kind of vessel?

⁴ If you throw it on the fire as fuel and the fire devours both ends and even the middle is scorched, is it still good for anything?

⁵ Why, even when it was whole it was good for nothing; how much less, when the fire has devoured and scorched it, can it be used for anything!

⁶ Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have destined as fuel for the fire, do I make the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁷ I will set my face against them; they have escaped from the fire, but the fire shall devour them. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD, when I turn my face against them.

⁸ I will make the land a waste, because they have broken faith, says the Lord GOD.