The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:r

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones

and planted it with the choicest vines.s

He built a watchtowert in it

and cut out a winepressu as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit.v

3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.w

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard

than I have done for it?x

When I looked for good grapes,

why did it yield only bad?y

5 Now I will tell you

what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be destroyed;z

I will break down its wall,a

and it will be trampled.b

6 I will make it a wasteland,c

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and briers and thornsd will grow there.

I will command the clouds

not to raine on it.”

7 The vineyardf of the Lord Almighty

is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice,g but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness,h but heard cries of distress.i