| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. | 1I will sing to my love--a song to my lover about his vineyard. My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill. |
| 2He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! | 2He built a hedge around it, removed its stones, and planted a vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress. He waited for it to produce edible grapes, but it produced sour ones instead. |
| 3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. | 3So now, residents of Jerusalem, people of Judah, you decide between me and my vineyard! |
| 4What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? | 4What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead? |
| 5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. | 5Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. |
| 6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.” | 6I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it. |
| 7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress. | 7Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got--disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got--cries for help! |
| 8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land. | 8Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. |
| 9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. | 9The LORD who commands armies told me this: "Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. |
| 10For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” | 10Indeed, a large vineyard will produce just a few gallons, and enough seed to yield several bushels will produce less than a bushel." |
| 11Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. | 11Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine. |
| 12At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. | 12They have stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the LORD is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about. |
| 13Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. | 13Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink. |
| 14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! | 14So Death will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; Zion's dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. |
| 15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. | 15Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low. |
| 16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. | 16The LORD who commands armies will be exalted when he punishes, the sovereign God's authority will be recognized when he judges. |
| 17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. | 17Lambs will graze as if in their pastures, amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. |
| 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, | 18Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes. |
| 19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” | 19They say, "Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!" |
| 20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. | 20Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter. |
| 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. | 21Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding. |
| 22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer, | 22Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead, who display great courage when mixing strong drinks. |
| 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. | 23They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent. |
| 24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. | 24Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the LORD who commands armies, they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel. |
| 25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. | 25So the LORD is furious with his people; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. |
| 26He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! | 26He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth. Look, they come quickly and swiftly. |
| 27None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. | 27None tire or stumble, they don't stop to nap or sleep. They don't loosen their belts, or unstrap their sandals to rest. |
| 28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. | 28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are prepared. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. |
| 29Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance. | 29Their roar is like a lion's; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue. |
| 30In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds. | 30At that time they will growl over their prey, it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster, clouds will turn the light into darkness. |
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