¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows:

² Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than wood from the branch of a forest tree?

³ Is its wood used for making anything? Are pegs on which to hang things made from it?

⁴ There it is, thrown on the fire for fuel. The fire burns off both ends; the middle is charred; can it be kept for anything now?

⁵ While it was intact, you could make nothing with it; burned and charred, is it any more useful now?

⁶ So, the Lord Yahweh says this: As the wood of the vine among the forest trees, which I have thrown on the fire for fuel, so shall I treat the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁷ I shall set my face against them. They have escaped one fire, but fire will devour them yet. And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.

⁸ I shall reduce the country to a desert, because of their infidelity- declares the Lord Yahweh.