5
1 Let
me sing for
my well beloved a
song of my
beloved about his
vineyard.
My beloved had
a vineyard on
a very fruitful
hill.
2 He
dug it up,
gathered out its
stones,
planted it with
the choicest vine,
built a tower
in the middle
of it,
and also cut
out a wine
press in it.
He looked for
it to yield
grapes,
but it yielded
wild grapes.
3 “Now,
inhabitants of
Jerusalem and men
of Judah,
please judge
between me and
my vineyard.
4 What
could have been
done more to
my vineyard, that
I have not
done in it?
Why, when I
looked for it
to yield grapes,
did it yield
wild grapes?
5 Now
I will tell
you what I
will do to
my vineyard.
I will take
away its hedge,
and it will
be eaten up.
I will break
down its wall,
and it will
be trampled down.
6 I
will lay it
a wasteland.
It won’t be
pruned or hoed,
but it will
grow briers and
thorns.
I will also
command the clouds
that they rain
no rain on
it.”
7 For
the vineyard of
the LORD of
Armies is the
house of Israel,
and the men
of Judah his
pleasant plant.
He looked for
justice, but
behold, oppression,
for righteousness,
but behold, a
cry of distress.
8 Woe
to those who
join house to
house,
who lay field
to field, until
there is no
room,
and you are
made to dwell alone
in the middle
of the land!
9 In
my ears, the LORD
of Armies says: “Surely
many houses will
be desolate,
even great and
beautiful, unoccupied.
10 For
ten acres
of vineyard shall
yield one
bath,
and a homer
of seed shall
yield an ephah.”
11 Woe
to those who
rise up early
in the morning,
that they may
follow strong
drink,
who stay late into the
night, until wine inflames
them!
12 The
harp, lyre,
tambourine, and
flute, with wine,
are at their
feasts;
but they don’t
respect the work
of the LORD,
neither have they
considered the
operation of his
hands.
13 Therefore
my people go
into captivity for
lack of knowledge.
Their honorable
men are famished,
and their
multitudes are
parched with
thirst.
14 Therefore
Sheol
has enlarged its
desire,
and opened its
mouth without
measure;
and their glory,
their multitude,
their pomp, and
he who rejoices among
them, descend into
it.
15 So man
is brought low,
mankind is humbled,
and the eyes
of the arrogant ones
are humbled;
16 but
the LORD of
Armies is exalted
in justice,
and God the
Holy One is
sanctified in
righteousness.
17 Then the
lambs will graze
as in their
pasture,
and strangers
will eat the
ruins of the rich.
18 Woe
to those who
draw iniquity with
cords of falsehood,
and wickedness as
with cart rope,
19 who
say, “Let him make
haste, let him
hasten his work,
that we may
see it;
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 wise in
their own eyes,
and prudent in
their own sight!
22 Woe
to those who
are mighty to
drink wine,
and champions at
mixing strong
drink;
23 who
acquit the guilty
for a bribe,
but deny justice
for the innocent!
24 Therefore
as the tongue
of fire devours the
stubble,
and as the
dry grass sinks
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 the LORD
of Armies,
and despised the
word of the
Holy One of
Israel.
25 Therefore
the LORD’s anger
burns against his
people,
and he has
stretched out his
hand against them
and has struck
them.
The mountains
tremble,
and their dead
bodies are as
refuse in the
middle of the
streets.
For all this,
his anger is not
turned away,
but his hand
is still stretched
out.
26 He
will lift up
a banner to
the nations from
far away,
and he will
whistle for them
from the end
of the earth.
Behold, they will
come speedily and
swiftly.
27 No
one shall be
weary nor stumble
among them;
no one shall
slumber nor sleep,
neither shall
the belt of their
waist be untied,
nor the strap
of their sandals
be broken,
28 whose
arrows are sharp,
and all their
bows bent.
Their horses’
hoofs will be
like flint,
and their wheels
like a whirlwind.
29 Their
roaring will be like
a lioness.
They will roar like
young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
and seize their
prey and carry it
off,
and there will be no one to
deliver.
30 They
will roar against
them in that
day like the
roaring of the
sea.
If one looks
to the land,
behold, darkness
and distress.
The light is
darkened in its
clouds.