Limitless Word
Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can even a peg be taken from it on which to hang any utensil?
Ezekiel 15:3 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?
  • KJV Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
  • BSB Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can one make from it a peg on which to hang utensils?
  • NKJV Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on?
  • NLT Can its wood be used for making things, like pegs to hang up pots and pans?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Vine wood is too useless even to make a peg for hanging a vessel. It has no structural worth at all.

Overview

God presses the image: you cannot build or even fashion a simple peg from a vine. Its only conceivable value lies in fruit, never in its substance. So Jerusalem, having failed to bear the fruit of faithfulness, has nothing else to commend it before God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Luke 14:34–35Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
  • Matt 5:13“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
  • Jer 24:8“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely Yahweh says, ‘So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
  • Mark 9:50Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 15:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.

How Ezekiel 15:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.