Ezekiel 15:5

5 Yea, when it was whole, it was not covenable to work; how much more when fire hath devoured, and hath burnt it, nothing of work shall be made thereof? (Yea, when it was whole, it was not suitable, or useful, for anything; how much more when the fire hath devoured it, and hath burned it, so that nothing useful shall be made out of it!)

Ezekiel 15:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 15:5

Behold, when it was whole it was meet for no work
Before it was cut into pieces, and east into the fire, it was not fit to make so much as a pin of to hang anything on; so Israel, when all together, before the ten tribes were carried captive, or the Jews before the captivity of Jeconiah, were useless and unfruitful, and to every good work reprobate: how much less shall it be meet yet for [any] work when the fire hath
devoured it, and it is burned?
as its wood is good for nothing before it is burned, its ashes are useless after.

Ezekiel 15:5 In-Context

3 Whether tree, or timber, shall be taken thereof, that work be made? either shall a stake be made thereof, that any vessel hang thereon? (Shall wood, or timber, be taken from it, so that some work be made of it? or shall a stake, or a peg, be made of it, so that something can hang on it?)

4 Lo! it is given [to the fire] into meat; [the] fire wasted ever either part thereof, and the midst thereof is driven into a dead spark; whether it shall be profitable to work? (Lo! it is sent into the fire for fuel; the fire destroyed each part of it, and the midst of it is driven into a dead spark; shall it be profitable, or useful, for anything?)

5 Yea, when it was whole, it was not covenable to work; how much more when fire hath devoured, and hath burnt it, nothing of work shall be made thereof? (Yea, when it was whole, it was not suitable, or useful, for anything; how much more when the fire hath devoured it, and hath burned it, so that nothing useful shall be made out of it!)

6 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, As the tree of a vine is among the trees of woods, which I gave to fire to devour, so I gave the dwellers of Jerusalem, (And so the Lord God saith these things, Like the vine tree is among the trees in the woods, which I gave to the fire to devour, so I shall take the inhabitants of Jerusalem,)

7 and I shall set my face against them. They shall go out of the (one) fire, and (then another) fire shall waste them; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall set my face against them,