¹The word of Adonai came to me:

²“Human being, why should wood from a grapevine be better

than some other kind of wood,

than some branch that one might find

among the trees of the forest?

³Its wood can’t be used to make anything,

not even a pin on which to hang a pot.

⁴So now it is thrown in the fire as fuel,

the fire consumes both ends of it,

and the middle of it is singed —

is it useful now for making something?

⁵When it was whole, it was good for nothing;

so how much less, when the fire

has consumed it, and it is singed,

will it be useful for making something!

⁶“So Adonai Elohim says this:

‘Like wood from the vine among the trees of the forest,

which I consign to the fire as fuel,

so I give those living in Yerushalayim.

⁷I will set my face against them —

they may have escaped one fire,

but the fire will consume them yet.

When I set my face against them,

you will know that I am Adonai .

⁸I will make the land desolate

because they have dealt so treacherously,’

says Adonai Elohim .”