This page gives you a full set of study questions for Ezekiel 15, the short prophetic chapter about the useless vine. It is written for a small group leader, a Sunday class teacher, or someone studying alone who wants to work through the text carefully. Each question comes with a discussion note so you can lead the conversation without preparing a separate commentary.
Ezekiel 15 at a Glance
The chapter opens with a question about the vine. Ezekiel asks what makes a vine more valuable than any other tree, and the answer is that its wood is not useful for building or for making anything. Even when it is whole it serves no purpose, and once it has been burned at both ends and charred in the middle it is worthless for work of any kind.
God then applies the picture to the people of Jerusalem. They are like that burned vine, given to the fire, and God sets his face against them so that they cannot escape. The chapter ends with the land made desolate because of their unfaithfulness, and with the repeated declaration that the people will know the LORD.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask the group to point to exact words and phrases in the text, and keep the discussion anchored to what the chapter literally says.
Ezekiel 15:2
“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
(WEB)
This verse opens the chapter with the central question about the vine. Reading it aloud sets the image before the group and invites them to consider what makes any tree valuable in the first place.
Ezekiel 15:3-4
3 Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?
(WEB)
These verses spell out the two uses the vine cannot serve and then describe its fate in the fire. Hearing the description aloud helps the group feel the force of the image before the application is raised.
Ezekiel 15:5
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?”
(WEB)
The argument from the whole vine to the burned vine is the heart of the chapter’s logic. Reading it aloud makes the reasoning clear and gives the group a moment to notice how the comparison builds.
Ezekiel 15:6-7
6 Therefore thus says the Lord the LORD: “As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
(WEB)
Here God applies the picture directly to Jerusalem and speaks in the first person. Reading these words aloud reminds the group that the judgment comes from the LORD himself and is meant to make him known.
Ezekiel 15:8
I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,” says the Lord the LORD.
(WEB)
This final verse names the trespass and the desolation of the land. Reading it aloud closes the chapter and prepares the group for honest reflection on sin and its consequences.
Memory Verse for Ezekiel 15
Ezekiel 15:7
I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
(WEB)
This verse holds the chapter’s central declaration that God sets his face against the unfaithful and that the purpose is that they will know he is the LORD. Memorizing it helps keep the recognition of God’s identity at the center of how the whole chapter is remembered.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you having read a hard chapter about a useless vine and a people given to the fire. Thank you that your word is honest and that you do not hide the cost of unfaithfulness from us. Search our hearts where we have drifted, and show us any place where we have become unfit for the work you have given us. Make us fruitful again by keeping us close to you, the true source of life. Give us a clear sense of who you are, so that our faith rests on you and not on our own standing. Teach us to pray for our churches and our communities with humility and hope, and help us to walk out this week in faithfulness. Amen.
