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.

Impending Judgment on Excesses

8 Woe to those who 5join hhouse to house;

They add field to field,

Till there is no place

Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!

9 iIn my hearing the Lord of hosts said,

“Truly, many houses shall be desolate,

Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one jbath, 6

And a 7homer of seed shall yield one ephah.”

11 kWoe to those who rise early in the morning,

That they may 8follow intoxicating drink;

Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!

12 lThe harp and the strings,

The tambourine and flute,

And wine are in their feasts;

But mthey do not regard the work of the Lord,

Nor consider the operation of His hands.

13 nTherefore my people have gone into captivity,

Because they have no oknowledge;

Their honorable men are famished,

And their multitude dried up with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself

And opened its mouth beyond measure;

Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,

And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.

15 People shall be brought down,

pEach man shall be humbled,

And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

16 But the Lord of hosts shall be qexalted in judgment,

And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.

17 Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture,

And in the waste places of rthe 9fat ones strangers shall eat.

18 Woe to those who 1draw iniquity with cords of 2vanity,

And sin as if with a cart rope;

19 sThat say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work,

That we may see it;

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,

That we may know it.”

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are twise in their own eyes,

And prudent in their own sight!

22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,

Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

23 Who ujustify the wicked for a bribe,

And take away justice from the righteous man!

24 Therefore, vas the 3fire devours the stubble,

And the flame consumes the chaff,

So wtheir root will be as rottenness,

And their blossom will ascend like dust;

Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 xTherefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people;

He has stretched out His hand against them

And stricken them,

And ythe hills trembled.

Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

zFor all this His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

26 aHe will lift up a banner to the nations from afar,

And will bwhistle to them from cthe end of the earth;

Surely dthey shall come with speed, swiftly.

27 No one will be weary or stumble among them,

No one will slumber or sleep;

Nor ewill the belt on their loins be loosed,

Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;

28 fWhose arrows are sharp,

And all their bows bent;

Their horses’ hooves will 4seem like flint,

And their wheels like a whirlwind.

29 Their roaring will be like a lion,

They will roar like young lions;

Yes, they will roar

And lay hold of the prey;

They will carry it away safely,

And no one will deliver.

30 In that day they will roar against them

Like the roaring of the sea.

And if one glooks to the land,

Behold, darkness and 5sorrow;

And the light is darkened by the clouds.