Ezekiel

The Useless Vine

This word of the Lord came to me:

“Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than that of any other tree in the forest?

Do they take its wood to make anything? Do they use it to craft a peg for hanging tools?

But now, they have used it as fuel, and the fire has burned it from both ends, leaving the middle charred. Is it then useful?

If it was of no use when it was whole, it will be of even less use when burned in the fire.”

That is why the Lord says: “I took the vine from among all the trees of the forest,and I gave it to the fire to be burned. This is how I have just dealt with those living in Jerusalem.

I will turn my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire will burn them, and you will know that I am the Lord when I turn against them.

I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful—word of the Lord.”