Ezekiel 15

Verse-by-verse explanation

1. Ezekiel 15:1Opening formula for a brief parable: the comparison of Jerusalem to the useless wood of the vine.
2. Ezekiel 15:2Vine wood is fit for neither furniture nor a peg — only for burning. It is a deliberately humbling image: Jerusalem is not compared to a noble cedar but to a twig with no use at all outside of fire.
3. Ezekiel 15:3The rhetorical question already gives away the answer: vine wood is fit neither for building anything nor for hanging objects on — it has no practical use at all.
4. Ezekiel 15:4Even before being fully burned, vine wood was already useless — the fire only finishes consuming something that never had any building value to begin with.
5. Ezekiel 15:5This drives the argument further: if the wood was already useless intact, it is even less useful once burned — the comparison grows steadily more unfavorable to Jerusalem.
6. Ezekiel 15:6The application of the parable is direct: just as vine wood has already come out of one fire and is still headed for another, Jerusalem had already been through hardship before and was still heading toward the same destruction.
7. Ezekiel 15:7God promises that Jerusalem will not escape one tragedy only to suffer another right after — the judgment will repeat until it is complete.
8. Ezekiel 15:8The chapter closes by tying down the reason behind the whole parable: the land’s desolation is a direct response to the unfaithfulness the people committed.