Ezekiel 15

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 Son of man, what makes the wood of the vine better than any other wood? That branch among the trees of the forest!	2 “Son of man, what can be made from the stalk of a vine, compared to all the plants of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?
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?	3 Can any wood be taken from it, so that it may be made into a work, or formed into a peg so as to hang some kind of vessel upon it?
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?	4 Behold, it is used in the fire as fuel. The fire consumes both its ends; and its middle is reduced to ashes. So how can it be useful for any work?
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!	5 Even when it was whole, it was unsuitable for a work. How much more so, when fire has devoured it and burned it up, will nothing of it be useful?
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.	6 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Like the stalk of the vine among the trees of the forests, which I have given to be devoured by fire, so will I deliver 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.	7 And I will set my face against them. They will go away from fire, and yet fire will consume them. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have set my face against them,
8 I will make the land a waste, because they have broken faith, says the Lord GOD.	8 and when I will have made their land impassable and desolate. For they have stood forth as transgressors, says the Lord God.”