A Vine Good for Nothing but Fire
A short, bleak image. Vine wood is useless for building even before it burns, and charred it is useless twice over. That, our Father says, is what the people of Jerusalem are to him: kept for the fire, not fit for any work.
15 1Then the word of our Father came to me:
2"Son of man, how is the vine's wood better than any other wood—the vine branch among the forest trees? 3Can its wood be used for anything useful? Can a peg be made from it to hang things on? 4See—it's thrown into the fire for fuel. The fire eats both its ends, its middle charred. Is it fit for any work? 5If useless whole, how much less once fire consumes it and it is charred—can it be made into anything?"
6So the Sovereign Father says: "Like the vine's wood among forest trees, which I gave to the fire for fuel, so I have given up those living in Jerusalem. 7I will set my face against them. They escaped one fire, but another will consume them; and you will know I am your Father, when I set my face against them. 8I will make the land a desolation, because they have been utterly unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Father."
