CHAPTER 5
I will sing
for my beloved,
a song
of his
vineyard:
My beloved
had
a vineyard
on a very fertile
hill.
He dug it up
and cleared the stones
and planted
the finest vines.
He built
a watchtower
in the middle
and
dug out
a winepress as well.
He waited for the vineyard
to yield
good grapes,
but the fruit it produced
was sour!
And now,
O dwellers
of Jerusalem
and men
of Judah,
I exhort
you to judge
between Me
and My vineyard.
What
more
could have been done
for My vineyard
that I did not
already do
in it?
Why,
when I waited
for it to yield
good grapes,
did it bring forth
sour fruit?
Now
I will tell you
what
I
am about to do
to My vineyard:
I will take away
its hedge,
and it will be
consumed;
I will tear down
its wall,
and it will be
trampled.
I will make
it a wasteland,
neither
pruned
nor
cultivated,
and thorns
and briers
will grow up.
I will command
the clouds
that rain
shall not fall
on it.
For
the vineyard
of the LORD
of Hosts
is the house
of Israel,
and the men
of Judah
are the plant
of His delight.
He looked
for justice
but saw
injustice;
for righteousness,
but heard
a cry of distress.
Woe
to those who add
house
to house
and join
field
to field
until
there is no
room
and you dwell
alone
in
the land.
I heard
the LORD
of Hosts declare:
“Surely
many
houses
will become
desolate,
great mansions
left unoccupied.
For
ten
acres
of vineyard
will yield
but a
bath of wine,
and a homer
of seed
only
an ephah of grain.”
Woe
to those who rise early
in the morning
in pursuit of
strong drink,
who linger
into the evening,
to be inflamed
by wine.
At their feasts
are the lyre
and harp,
tambourines
and flutes
and wine.
They disregard
the actions
of the LORD,
and fail
to see
the work
of His hands.
Therefore
My people
will go into exile
for their lack
of understanding;
their dignitaries
are starving,
and their masses
are parched
with thirst.
Therefore
Sheol
enlarges
its throat
and opens
wide its enormous
jaws,
and down go
Zion’s nobles
and masses,
her jubilant
and carousers!
But the LORD
of Hosts
will be exalted
by His justice,
and the holy
God
will show Himself holy
in righteousness.
to those who say,
“Let Him hurry
and hasten His work
so that
we may see it!
Let the plan
of the Holy
One of Israel
come
so that we may know it!”
Woe
to those who call
evil
good
and good
evil,
who turn
darkness
to light
and light
to darkness,
who replace
bitter
with sweet
and sweet
with bitter.
Therefore,
as a tongue
of fire
consumes
straw
and dry grass
shrivels
in the flame,
so their roots
will decay
and their blossoms
will blow away
like dust;
for
they have rejected
the instruction
of the LORD
of Hosts
and despised
the word
of the Holy
One of Israel.
Therefore
the LORD’s
anger
burns
against His people;
He has raised
His hand
against them
and struck them;
the mountains
quaked,
and their corpses
lay
like refuse
in
the streets.
Yet through all
this,
His anger
is not
spent,
and His hand
is still
upraised.
He lifts
a banner
for the distant
nations
and whistles
for those
at the ends
of the earth.
Behold—
how speedily
and swiftly
they come!
None
of them grows weary
or stumbles;
no
one slumbers
or sleeps.
No
belt
is loose
and no
sandal
strap
is broken.
Their arrows
are sharpened,
and all
their bows
are strung.
The hooves
of their horses
are like flint;
their chariot wheels
are like a whirlwind.
Their roaring
is like that of a lion;
they roar
like young lions.
They growl
and seize
their prey;
they carry it
away
from deliverance.
In that
day
they will roar
over it,
like the roaring
of the sea.
If one looks
over the land,
he will see
darkness
and distress;
even the light
will be obscured
by clouds.