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.
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Shall wood be taken of it to make 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 has devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned: is it profitable for any work?
Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work!
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 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.
I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.
I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord Yahweh.