Ezekiel 15:5

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?

Ezekiel 15:5 in Other Translations

5 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?

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!

5 Vines are useless both before and after being put into the fire!

5 "Hardly. When it was whole it wasn't good for anything. Half-burned is no improvement. What's it good for?

5 Even when it was whole it could not be made into a useful object. How much less can it ever be made into anything useful when the fire has devoured it and it is charred!

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 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs 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?

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.

7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.