Ezekiel 15 – The Parable of the Vine Wood
A short, sharp parable: Jerusalem is vine wood, fit only for the fire.
Ezekiel 15 is one of Ezekiel's shortest chapters, a compact parable following the elders' judgment in Ezekiel 14: vine wood is useless for building, good only for burning.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?
Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.
And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.