Parable of the Useless Vine
15 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine,(A) that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood? 3 Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on? 4 In fact, it is put into the fire as fuel.(B) The fire devours both of its ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything? 5 Even when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!”
6 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says, “Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I will give up the residents of Jerusalem. 7 I will turn against them.(C) They may have escaped from the fire, but it will still consume them.(D) And you will know that I am the Lord when I turn against them. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
Cross references
- 15:2 : Ps 80:8–16; Is 5:1–7; Hs 10:1
- 15:4 : Jn 15:6
- 15:7 : Ezk 14:8
- 15:7 : Is 24:18
