Ezekiel 15:1-8
Jerusalem as a Useless Vine
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? 3 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? 4 And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? 5 If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?
6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Then the word of the LORD came to me...He said, “Son of man, are the pieces of wood from a grapevine any better than the little branches cut from trees in the forest?...Can you use that wood from a grapevine to make anything?...Can you use that wood to make pegs to hang dishes on?...People throw that wood into the fire...The ends burn, and the middle is scorched...If you cannot make anything from that wood before it is burned, you surely cannot make anything from that wood after it is burned!...So people throw the pieces of wood from a grapevine into the fire...It is just like wood from any other tree in the forest...In the same way I will throw the people living in Jerusalem into the fire!”...This is what the LORD GOD said. “I will punish those people...But some of them will be like the sticks that don’t burn completely...They will be punished, but they will not be destroyed completely...You will see that I punished them, and you will know that I AM the Lord!...I will destroy that country because the people left Me to worship false gods.”...This is what the LORD GOD said...