NSB(i)
1 Let me sing to my loved one a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
2 He dug the soil all around and removed its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones.
3 »Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me!
4 »What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes?
5 »Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down.
6 »It will turn into a desert, neither pruned nor cultivated. It will be covered with thorns and briars. I will command the clouds not to send rain.«
7 I am Jehovah of Hosts (All Powerful)! Israel is the vineyard, and Judah is the garden I tended with care. I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.