1Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard . My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill : 2and he digged it , and gathered out the stones thereof , and planted it with the choicest vine , and built a tower in the midst of it , and also hewed out a winepress therein : and he looked that it should bring forth grapes , and it brought forth wild grapes . 3And now , O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah , judge , I pray you , betwixt me and my vineyard . 4What could have been done more to my vineyard , that I have not done in it ? wherefore , when I looked that it should bring forth grapes , brought it forth wild grapes ? 5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard : I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down : 6and I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned nor hoed ; but there shall come up briers and thorns : I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it . 7For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel , and the men of Judah his pleasant plant : and he looked for justice , but , behold , oppression ; for righteousness , but , behold , a cry .
Woes to the Wicked
8Woe unto them that join house to house , that lay field to field , till there be no room , and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land ! 9In mine ears saith Jehovah of hosts , Of a truth many houses shall be desolate , even great and fair , without inhabitant . 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath , and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah. 11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning , that they may follow strong drink ; that tarry late into the night , till wine inflame them ! 12And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe , and wine , are in their feasts ; but they regard not the work of Jehovah , neither have they considered the operation of his hands . 13Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge ; and their honorable men are famished , and their multitude are parched with thirst . 14Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire , and opened its mouth without measure ; and their glory , and their multitude , and their pomp , and he that rejoiceth among them , descend into it . 15And the mean man is bowed down , and the great man is humbled , and the eyes of the lofty are humbled : 16but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice , and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness . 17Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture , and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat . 18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood , and sin as it were with a cart rope ; 19that say , Let him make speed , let him hasten his work , that we may see it ; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come , that we may know it ! 20Woe unto them that call evil good , and good evil ; that put darkness for light , and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet , and sweet for bitter ! 21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes , and prudent in their own sight ! 22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine , and men of strength to mingle strong drink ; 23that justify the wicked for a bribe , and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him !
The Judgment of God
24Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble , and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame , so their root shall be as rottenness , and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts , and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel . 25Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people , and he hath stretched forth his hand against them , and hath smitten them ; and the mountains tremble , and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets . For all this his anger is not turned away , but his hand is stretched out still . 26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far , and will hiss for them from the end of the earth; and , behold , they shall come with speed swiftly . 27None shall be weary nor stumble among them ; none shall slumber nor sleep ; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed , nor the latchet of their shoes be broken : 28whose arrows are sharp , and all their bows bent ; their horses ’ hoofs shall be accounted as flint , and their wheels as a whirlwind : 29their roaring shall be like a lioness , they shall roar like young lions ; yea, they shall roar , and lay hold of the prey , and carry it away safe , and there shall be none to deliver . 30And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea : and if one look unto the land, behold , darkness and distress ; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.