Ezekiel 15

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.

Ezekiel 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

Jerusalem like an unfruitful vine.

- If a vine be fruitful, it is valuable. But if not fruitful, it is worthless and useless, it is cast into the fire. Thus man is capable of yielding a precious fruit, in living to God; this is the sole end of his existence; and if he fails in this, he is of no use but to be destroyed. What blindness then attaches to those who live in the total neglect of God and of true religion! This similitude is applied to Jerusalem. Let us beware of an unfruitful profession. Let us come to Christ, and seek to abide in him, and to have his words abide in us.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 15

The destruction of Jerusalem is again prophesied of in this chapter, and is set forth under the simile of a vine tree, which, for its uselessness, is committed to the fire. The simile is in Eze 15:1-5; the application of it in Eze 15:6-8.