Ezekiel 15:5

5 Look! {When it is in perfect condition}, it will not be used for anything, {how much less} {when the fire has consumed it} and it is charred; and [then] can it be used again for anything?

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 Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can they take a tent peg from it to hang on it any object?

4 Look! It is given to the fire as fuel. The fire will consume two of its ends, and its middle will be charred. Is it useful for anything?

5 Look! {When it is in perfect condition}, it will not be used for anything, {how much less} {when the fire has consumed it} and it is charred; and [then] can it be used again for anything?

6 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: {Just like} the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest which I gave to the fire for fuel, so I have given the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set my face against them. From the fire they [may]{escape}, but the fire will [yet] consume them, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh {when I set my face against them}.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "In being it perfect"
• [b] Literally "indeed"
• [c] Literally "for [if] fire has consumed it"