1 And thee word of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 2 Sonne of man, what commeth of the vine tree aboue all other trees? and of the vine braunch, which is among the trees of ye forest? 3 Shall wood bee taken thereof to doe any worke? or wil men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? 4 Behold, it is cast in the fire to be consumed: the fire consumeth both the endes of it, and the middes of it is burnt. Is it meete for any worke? 5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meete for no worke: how much lesse shall it bee meete for any worke, when the fire hath consumed it, and it is burnt? 6 Therefore thus sayth the Lord God, As the vine tree, that is among the trees of the forest, which I haue giuen to the fire to be consumed, so will I giue the inhabitants of Ierusalem. 7 And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall consume them: and ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them, 8 And when I make the lande waste, because they haue greatly offended, saith the Lord God.
A Parable about a Vine
1 The Lord spoke to me. 2 “Mortal man,” he said, “how does a vine compare with a tree? What good is a branch of a grapevine compared with the trees of the forest? 3 Can you use it to make anything? Can you even make a peg out of it to hang things on? 4 It is only good for building a fire. And when the ends are burned up and the middle is charred, can you make anything out of it? 5 It was useless even before it was burned. Now that the fire has burned it and charred it, it is even more useless.”
6 Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “Just as a vine is taken from the forest and burned, so I will take the people who live in Jerusalem 7 and will punish them. They have escaped one fire, but now fire will burn them up. When I punish them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 They have been unfaithful to me, and so I will make the country a wilderness.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.