The Vineyard of the LORD Destroyed

1Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

4What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

5And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

6I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briers and thorns shall grow up;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike

Woe to the Wicked

8Woe to those who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land.

9The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

“Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

10For ten acres5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plough in a day of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”5:10 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 litres; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 litres; an ephah was about 3/5 of a bushel or 22 litres

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning,

that they may run after strong drink,

who tarry late into the evening

as wine inflames them!

12They have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,

but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD,

or see the work of his hands.

13Therefore my people go into exile

for lack of knowledge;5:13 Or without their knowledge

their honoured men go hungry,5:13 Or die of hunger

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

and opened its mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem5:14 Hebrew her nobility and her multitude will go down,

her revellers and he who exults in her.

15Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty5:15 Hebrew high are brought low.

16But the LORD of hosts is exalted5:16 Hebrew high in justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

17Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,

and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes,

19who say: “Let him be quick,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

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

and let it come, that we may know it!”

20Woe 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!

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!

24Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will be as rottenness,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,

and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,

and the mountains quaked;

and their corpses were as refuse

in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

26He will raise a signal for nations far away,

and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;

and behold, quickly, speedily they come!

27None is weary, none stumbles,

none slumbers or sleeps,

not a waistband is loose,

not a sandal strap broken;

28their arrows are sharp,

all their bows bent,

their horses' hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels like the whirlwind.

29Their roaring is like a lion,

like young lions they roar;

they growl and seize their prey;

they carry it off, and none can rescue.

30They will growl over it on that day,

like the growling of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

behold, darkness and distress;

and the light is darkened by its clouds.