¹Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard .

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill .

²He dug it up ,

gathered out its stones ,

planted it with the choicest vine ,

built a tower in the middle of it ,

and also cut out a wine press in it .

He looked for it to yield grapes ,

but it yielded wild grapes .

³“Now , inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah ,

please judge between me and my vineyard .

⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard , that I have not done in it ?

Why , when I looked for it to yield grapes , did it yield wild grapes ?

⁵Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard .

I will take away its hedge , and it will be eaten up .

I will break down its wall , and it will be trampled down .

⁶I will lay it a wasteland.

It won’t be pruned or hoed ,

but it will grow briers and thorns .

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

⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the house of Israel ,

and the men of Judah his pleasant plant .

He looked for justice , but behold , oppression ,

for righteousness , but behold , a cry of distress .

⁸Woe to those who join house to house ,

who lay field to field , until there is no room ,

and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land !

⁹In my ears, the LORD of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate ,

even great and beautiful , unoccupied.

¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath ,[#5:10 literally, ten yokes, or the amount of land that ten yokes of oxen can plough in one day, which is about 10 acres or 4 hectares.; #5:10 1 bath is about 22 litres or 5.8 U. S. gallons]

and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”

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

who stay late into the night , until wine inflames them !

¹²The harp , lyre , tambourine , and flute , with wine , are at their feasts ;

but they don’t respect the work of the LORD ,

neither have they considered the operation of his hands .

¹³Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge .

Their honourable men are famished ,

and their multitudes are parched with thirst .

¹⁴Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire ,[#5:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.]

and opened its mouth without measure ;

and their glory , their multitude , their pomp , and he who rejoices amongst them , descend into it .

¹⁵So man is brought low ,

mankind is humbled ,

and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled ;

¹⁶but the LORD of Armies is exalted in justice ,

and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness .

¹⁷Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture ,

and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

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

and wickedness as with cart rope ,

¹⁹who say , “Let him make haste , let him hasten his work , that we may see it ;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and 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 prudent in their own sight !

²²Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine ,

and champions at mixing strong drink ;

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe ,

but deny justice for the innocent !

²⁴Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble ,

and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame ,

so their root shall be as rottenness ,

and their blossom shall go up as dust,

because they have rejected the law of the LORD of Armies ,

and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel .

²⁵Therefore the LORD ’s anger burns against his people ,

and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them .

The mountains tremble ,

and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets .

For all this , his anger is not turned away ,

but his hand is still stretched out .

²⁶He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away ,

and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.

Behold , they will come speedily and swiftly .

²⁷No one shall be weary nor stumble amongst them ;

no one shall slumber nor sleep ,

neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,

nor the strap of their sandals be broken ,

²⁸whose arrows are sharp ,

and all their bows bent .

Their horses ’ hoofs will be like flint ,

and their wheels like a whirlwind .

²⁹Their roaring will be like a lioness .

They will roar like young lions .

Yes, they shall roar ,

and seize their prey and carry it off ,

and there will be no one to deliver .

³⁰They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea .

If one looks to the land, behold , darkness and distress .

The light is darkened in its clouds .