Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

 ¹ "Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.

 ² And he fenced it, gathered out the stones from it, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress in it; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

 ³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, 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, should it bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

 ⁵ Now it come to this, where I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedges, and it will be eaten up; and break down its walls, and it shall be trodden down.

 ⁶  I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned, nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. I will also command the clouds that they will not rain upon it.

 ⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but beheld oppression; and looked for righteousness, but beheld a cry.

 ⁸ Woe to those who join house to house, that lay field to field, until there is no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

 ⁹ In my ears says the Lord of hosts, "Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without any inhabitants.

 ¹⁰ Yes, ten acres of vineyard will yield thirty quarts, and the 75 gallons of seed shall yield one bushel of grain.

 ¹¹ Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, until wine inflames them!

 ¹² And the harp, the violin, the tambourine, pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they do not regard not the work of the LORD, neither do they consider the operation of his hands.¹

 ¹³ Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

 ¹⁴ Therefore hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.

 ¹⁵ And the low man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.

 ¹⁶ But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God, who is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness.

 ¹⁷ Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall be eaten by strangers.

 ¹⁸ Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope.

 ¹⁹ That say, 'Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and 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!²

 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 men of strength to mingle strong drink.

 ²³ Who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

 ²⁴ Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossom shall go up like dust because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.³

 ²⁵ Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them; and the hills trembled, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

 ²⁶ And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will call to them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.

 ²⁷ None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken;

 ²⁸ Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

 ²⁹ Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall save it.

 ³⁰ And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one looks to the land, he will behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens of it."