\s5
\c 15
\p
\v 1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
\v 2 "Son of man, the wood of a grapevine is certainly not more useful than the branches of the trees in a forest.
\v 3 No one even makes pegs from it to hang things on.
\v 4 And after a branch of a grapevine is thrown into a fire and the fire burns both ends and chars the branch in the middle, after that will it be useful for anything?

\s5
\v 5 No; if it was not useful for anything before it was burned, it certainly cannot be made into something useful after the fire has burned and charred it.
\p
\v 6 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: The wood of grapevines is useful only for fuel in a fire. Similarly, the people who live in Jerusalem are useless.

\s5
\v 7 I will reject them. It will be as though they have escaped from a fire, but there will still be a fire that will burn them up. And when I punish them, you people who remain alive will know that I, Yahweh, have done it.
\v 8 I will cause your country to become a wasteland because your people have not been loyal to me. That is what I, Yahweh, the Lord, say."