Read & explore together
Jerusalem the Useless Vine
Ezekiel 15 uses a sharp picture to speak about Jerusalem. The passage compares vine wood with ordinary trees and shows why God calls the city useless and ready for judgement because of unfaithfulness.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
This passage comes as Yahweh’s word to Ezekiel and is presented as prophecy and teaching. The message focuses on a comparison between a vine branch and forest trees, then applies that comparison directly to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land.
Ezekiel 15:1–8Main takeaway
Ezekiel 15 teaches that Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness brings God’s judgement, pictured through vine wood that is unfit for use and fit only for the fire.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A question about the vineYahweh begins with a question about the vine tree among the forest trees. The point is not that a vine produces useful timber.
Explanation
Yahweh begins with a question about the vine tree among the forest trees. The point is not that a vine produces useful timber. The comparison asks what makes vine wood better than other wood when considered simply as wood. The image sets up the whole message.
02Wood that cannot do the simplest jobThe next questions press the image further. Can vine wood be made into something useful? Can it even become a peg for hanging a vessel?
Explanation
The next questions press the image further. Can vine wood be made into something useful? Can it even become a peg for hanging a vessel? The expected answer is no. In this passage, vine wood is presented as weak and unsuitable for ordinary craftsmanship.
03Burned wood is even less usefulThe image grows stronger when the wood is thrown into the fire. If the vine was not suitable for work while whole, it is certainly not suitable after both ends and the middle are burned.
Explanation
The image grows stronger when the wood is thrown into the fire. If the vine was not suitable for work while whole, it is certainly not suitable after both ends and the middle are burned. Fire here pictures destruction that removes any remaining usefulness.
04The meaning explainedThe Lord Yahweh applies the picture directly to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As vine wood is given to the fire for fuel, so Jerusalem’s people will face judgement.
Explanation
The Lord Yahweh applies the picture directly to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As vine wood is given to the fire for fuel, so Jerusalem’s people will face judgement. Yahweh says he will set his face against them, and the land will become desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What is the main comparison in this prophecy, and how does the passage answer it?
Look at the questions about the vine tree and notice how the passage shows that vine wood is not useful for making things or even a peg.
02Why does the passage mention wood that has been burned at both ends and in the middle?
Notice how the fire strengthens the argument: if the wood was unsuitable before, it is even less suitable after being burned.
03According to the passage itself, why will the land become desolate?
Read the final explanation carefully and use the exact reason given there rather than guessing from outside the passage.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 15:1–8
1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?
3Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?
4Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?
5Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?”
6Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “As the vine wood among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
7I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.
8I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,” says the Lord Yahweh.