New Living Translation

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill.

1I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one's vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.

2He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.

3Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard.

3So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard.

4What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

4What more could I have done for My vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

5Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.

5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.

6I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

7The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence. Judah’s Guilt and Judgment

7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness.

8What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.

8Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

9But I have heard the LORD of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty.

9I heard the LORD of Hosts say: Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

10Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”

10For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons, and 10 bushels of seed will yield only one bushel.

11What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk.

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.

12They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the LORD or notice what he is doing.

12At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the LORD's actions, and they do not see the work of His hands.

13So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst.

13Therefore My people will go into exile because they lack knowledge; her dignitaries are starving, and her masses are parched with thirst.

14The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.

14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!

15Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation.

15Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.

16But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.

16But the LORD of Hosts is exalted by His justice, and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness.

17In that day lambs will find good pastures, and fattened sheep and young goats will feed among the ruins.

17Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and strangers will eat among the ruins of the rich.

18What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

18Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

19They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.”

19to those who say:" Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!"

20What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

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.

21What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.

21Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight.

22What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.

22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer,

23They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.

23who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

24Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25That is why the LORD’s anger burns against his people, and why he has raised his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble, and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then the LORD’s anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike!

25Therefore the LORD's anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike.

26He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem.

26He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look--how quickly and swiftly they come!

27They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken.

27None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

28Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses' hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

29They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them.

29Their roaring is like a lion's; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

30They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds.

30On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.