And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit: These two lines describe the final destruction of the vine itself. As fire burned the strong branch in verse 12, here the fire burned not only its stem, that is, the vine’s strong branch, but also destroyed its branches and fruit, that is, the whole vine. Two things seem strange here: first, the strong branch seems to have burned twice, once in verse 12 and again in verse 14; and second, it is unclear where the fire came from, because no one lit it and the strong branch seems to have caught on fire by itself. But this is still part of the picture language of the parable, in which things can happen that are not totally logical. Translators need to ignore the illogical things and translate just what is there.

Some translations understand these two lines in a different way; for example, New King James Version has “Fire has come out from a rod of her branches and devoured her fruit” (similarly King James Version), and New International Version says “Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit” (similarly New Living Translation, New Century Version). The Hebrew reads literally “And fire came out from the branch of its shoots, its fruit it [the fire] destroyed.” This rendering follows the Hebrew more closely than Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation do, and is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. New Century Version takes “the branch of its shoots” to be the vine’s main branch from which the other smaller branches grow. It reminds the reader of the strong branch of verses 11 and 12. New Century Version provides a good model for these two lines, saying “Fire spread from the vine’s main branch, destroying its fruit.”

So that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for a ruler: These two lines express the result of the total destruction of the vine. It is the opposite of the situation in verse 11 (see the comments there). New Century Version also provides a helpful model for these two lines, saying “There is not a strong branch left on it that could become a scepter for a king.” Instead of for a ruler, the Hebrew text is literally “to rule with” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly King James Version / New King James Version). Revised Standard Version simply makes a stylistic change.

As with the first part of the chapter (verses 2-9), the historical background of the picture in verses 10-14 is also not clear. The vine is either the nation of Israel or the Davidic dynasty. If these verses refer to “strong branches,” they must be some of the last kings of Judah. If they refer to a single strong branch, it likely represents Zedekiah. The fire that destroyed the whole vine seems to refer to Zedekiah’s actions that destroyed the dynasty of David. This explanation is included to help translators follow the text, but none of the historical details should be included in the translation itself.

This is a lamentation closes the “song of sorrow” (Good News Translation) that God told Ezekiel to sing. The clause and has become a lamentation may be a note inserted in the text after the fall of Jerusalem to show that the people soon began to use it when they wanted to express their sorrow. For lamentation see Ezek 19.1. A model for this whole sentence is “This is the funeral song that God told me [Ezekiel] to sing. People have been singing it to show how sorry they are.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .