Parable of the Useless Vine
1 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 Yahweh 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.