Parable of the Useless Vine

1Then 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? 3Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on? 4In 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? 5Even 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. 7I 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. 8I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.