MLV(i)
1 Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
2 And he dug it and gathered out the stones of it and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought out wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I beseech 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 that it should bring forth grapes, it brought out wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you* what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it and it will be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it and it will be trodden down. 6 And I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned nor hoed, but there will come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression, for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room and you* are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9 In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses will be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield one 9-gallon container and a homer of seed will yield but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who abide late into the night, till wine inflame them! 12 And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge and their honorable men are famished and their multitude are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without measure. And their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. 15 And the common man is bowed down and the great man is debased and the eyes of the lofty are humbled, 16 but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice and God the Holy One is made holy in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will feed as in their pasture and wanderers will eat the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood and sin as it were with a cart rope, 19 who say, Let him make speed, let him 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!
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 rewards and take away the justice of the righteous man from him!
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom will go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people and he has stretched forth his hand against them and has struck them. And the mountains tremble and their dead bodies are as refuse 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 whistle for them from the end of the earth, and behold, they will come with speed swiftly. 27 None will be weary nor stumble among them. None will slumber nor sleep, nor will the belt 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 will be accounted as flint and their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey and carry it away safe and there will be none to deliver. 30 And they will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. And if a man looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress and the light is darkened in the clouds of it.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I beseech 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 that it should bring forth grapes, it brought out wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you* what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it and it will be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it and it will be trodden down. 6 And I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned nor hoed, but there will come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression, for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room and you* are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9 In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses will be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield one 9-gallon container and a homer of seed will yield but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who abide late into the night, till wine inflame them! 12 And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge and their honorable men are famished and their multitude are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without measure. And their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. 15 And the common man is bowed down and the great man is debased and the eyes of the lofty are humbled, 16 but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice and God the Holy One is made holy in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will feed as in their pasture and wanderers will eat the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood and sin as it were with a cart rope, 19 who say, Let him make speed, let him 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!
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 rewards and take away the justice of the righteous man from him!
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom will go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people and he has stretched forth his hand against them and has struck them. And the mountains tremble and their dead bodies are as refuse 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 whistle for them from the end of the earth, and behold, they will come with speed swiftly. 27 None will be weary nor stumble among them. None will slumber nor sleep, nor will the belt 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 will be accounted as flint and their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey and carry it away safe and there will be none to deliver. 30 And they will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. And if a man looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress and the light is darkened in the clouds of it.