The Song of the Vineyard

1Let me sing now for my well-beloved

A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.

My well-beloved had a vineyard on [†]a fertile hill.

2He dug it all around, removed its stones,

And planted it with [†]the choicest vine.

And He built a tower in the middle of it

And also hewed out a [†]wine vat in it;

Then He hoped for it to produce good grapes,

But it produced only [†]worthless ones.

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

Please judge between Me and My vineyard.

4What more was there to do for My vineyard [†]that I have not done in it?

Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce [†]worthless ones?

5So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:

I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed;

I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground.

6I will lay it waste;

It will not be pruned or hoed,

But briars and thorns will come up.

I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

7For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel

And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

Woes to Those Who Call Evil Good

8Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,

Until there is no more room,

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

9In my ears Yahweh of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate,

Even great and good ones, without inhabitants.

10For ten [†]acres of vineyard will yield only one [†]bath of wine,

And a [†]homer of seed will yield but an [†]ephah of grain.”

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,

Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

12And their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;

But they do not look upon the deeds of Yahweh,

Nor do they see the work of His hands.

13Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;

And [†]their honorable men are famished,

And their multitude is parched with thirst.

14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its [†]throat and opened its mouth without limit;

And [†]Jerusalem’s majesty, her multitude, her rumbling, and the exultant within her, descend into it.

15So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance will be made low,

The eyes of the lofty also will be made low.

16But Yahweh of hosts will be lofty in judgment,

And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

And sojourners will eat in the waste places of the [†]wealthy.

18Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness,

And sin as if with cart ropes,

19Who say, “Let Him hurry, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near

And come to pass, that we may know it!”

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

Who [†]substitute darkness for light and light for darkness,

Who [†]substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

And understanding in their own [†]sight!

22Woe to those who are mighty men in drinking wine

And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23Who [†]declare the wicked righteous for a bribe,

And remove the [†]righteous standing of the ones who are [†]righteous!

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble

And dry grass collapses into the flame,

So their root will become like rot and their blossom [†]blow away as dust;

For they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts

And the word of the Holy One of Israel they have spurned.

25On this account, the anger of Yahweh has burned against His people,

And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.

And the mountains trembled, and their corpses [†]lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this His anger is not turned back,

But His hand is still stretched out.

26He will also lift up a standard to the [†]distant nations,

And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;

And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

27No one in it is weary or stumbles,

None slumbers or sleeps;

Nor is the belt at its waist undone,

Nor its sandal strap broken.

28[†]Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;

The hoofs of its horses [†]seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;

It growls and seizes the prey

And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

30And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;

Even the light is darkened by its clouds.