Ezekiel 15:5
3 Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can one make from it a peg on which to hang utensils?
4 No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?
Even when it was whole, it could not be made useful. How much less can it ever be useful when the fire has consumed it and charred it!
6 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the people of Jerusalem.
7 And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Even when it was whole, it could not be made useful. How much less can it ever be useful when the fire has consumed it and charred it!
- KJV
- Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?
- WEB
- Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?”
- ASV
- Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work!
- DARBY
- Behold, when it was whole, it was used for no work; how much less when the fire hath consumed it, and it is burned, should it yet be used for any work?
- BLB
- Behold, in its being complete, it could not be made for work; how much [less] when the fire has devoured it and it is burned, can it even be made yet for work!
- ÅB
- Mens den enda var hel, bruktes den ikke til noe arbeid; hvor meget mindre når ilden har fortært den, og den er forbrent! Kan den enda brukes til å gjøre noe arbeid med?
- OTB
- Mens den var hel, ble den ikke laget til noe. Hvor mye mindre kan den brukes til noe når den er fortært av ild og svidd?
- B1930
- Mens den ennu var hel, bruktes den ikke til noget arbeid; hvor meget mindre når ilden har fortært den, og den er forbrent! Kan den enda brukes til å gjøre noget arbeid med?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 3:16
“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
Read in context