⁹ In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.^(A) And all will be desolation.

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

15 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine^(A) different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? ³ Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful?^(B) Do they make pegs^(C) from it to hang things on? ⁴ And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything?^{(D) 5} If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

⁶ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem.

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

4 ^[a]“Surely the day is coming;^(A) it will burn like a furnace.^(B) All the arrogant^(C) and every evildoer will be stubble,^(D) and the day that is coming will set them on fire,^(E)” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch^(F) will be left to them.