1Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of
my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved
hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2And he fenced it, and gathered out the
stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest
vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also
made a winepress therein: and he looked that it
should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild
grapes.
3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my
vineyard.
4What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore,
when I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes?
5And now go to; I will tell you what I will
do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge
thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break
down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be
pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers
and thorns: 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 his pleasant
plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold
oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay
field to field, till there
be no place, that they may be placed alone in
the midst of the earth!
9In mine ears said the
LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be
desolate, even great
and fair, without inhabitant.
10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one
bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11Woe unto them that rise up early in the
morning, that they
may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine
inflame them!
12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and
pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard
not the work of the LORD, neither consider the
operation of his hands.
13Therefore my people are gone into
captivity, because they
have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished,
and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and
opened her mouth without measure: and their glory,
and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that
rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
15And the mean man shall be brought down, and
the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the
lofty shall be humbled:
16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in
judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified
in righteousness.
17Then shall the lambs feed after their
manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall
strangers eat.
18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords
of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19That 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
nigh and come, that we may know it!
20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good
evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter!
21Woe unto them
that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in
their own sight!
22Woe unto them
that are mighty to drink wine, and men of
strength to mingle strong drink:
23Which justify the wicked for reward, and
take away the righteousness of the righteous from
him!
24Therefore as the fire devoureth the
stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their
root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall
go up as dust: because they have cast away the law
of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the
Holy One of Israel.
25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled
against his people, and he hath stretched forth his
hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the
hills did tremble, 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.
26And he will lift up an ensign to the
nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the
end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with
speed swiftly:
27None 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:
28Whose arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall
be counted like flint, and their wheels like a
whirlwind:
29Their roaring shall
be like a lion, they shall roar like young
lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the
prey, and shall carry it away
safe, and none shall deliver it.
30And in that day they shall roar against
them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look
unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow,
and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.