WEB

Ezekiel 15

A short, single-image oracle: God asks what the wood of a vine is good for compared with forest timber. The answer is nothing. You cannot even make a peg from it to hang a vessel, and once the fire has charred both ends and the middle, it is more useless still. The parable lands hard on a nation that prized the vine as its own emblem.

Parallel reading
English + Español (LatAm)
Ezekiel 15 (WEB)
  1. 1

    The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

  2. 2

    “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

  3. 3

    Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?

  4. 4

    Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?

  5. 5

    Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?”

  6. 6

    Therefore the Lord GOD says: “As the vine wood among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

  7. 7

    I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

  8. 8

    I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,” says the Lord GOD.

A vine valued only for its fruit

The point hinges on a fact about vines: they are kept for grapes, not lumber, so vine wood was already worthless as material before any burning. Israel, often pictured elsewhere as God's vine, is judged here purely as wood, stripped of its one redeeming use.

God applies it directly: the inhabitants of Jerusalem are like that charred vine wood, given to the fire. Those who escape one fire will be devoured by another, and the land made desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully. The brevity makes the verdict feel final.

Context layers

Keep these closed by default and open them only when you want more context.

Share a small range via:

/en/web/ezekiel/15/16-18

Or use the Passage link builder.

Keep reading in context