God’s Disappointing Vineyard

5 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved aregarding His vineyard:

My Well-beloved has a vineyard

1On a very fruitful hill.

2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst,

And also 2made a winepress in it;

bSo He expected it to bring forth good grapes,

But it brought forth wild grapes.

3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

cJudge, please, between Me and My vineyard.

4 What more could have been done to My vineyard

That I have not done in dit?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,

Did it bring forth wild grapes?

5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:

eI will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;

And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will lay it fwaste;

It shall not be pruned or 3dug,

But there shall come up briers and gthorns.

I will also command the clouds

That they rain no rain on it.”

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,

And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;

For righteousness, but behold, 4a cry for help.