1Let me sing for my well beloved, a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
My well beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

2He spaded it, removed the stones, and planted it with an excellent kind of vine.
He built a tower in the middle of it, and also built a winepress.
He waited for it to produce grapes, but it only produced wild grapes.

3So now, inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.

4What more could have been done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it?
When I looked for it to produce grapes, why did it produce wild grapes?

5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will remove the hedge,
I will turn it into a pasture, I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.

6I will lay it waste, and it will not be pruned nor hoed. Instead, briers and thorns will spring up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.

7For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the man of Judah his pleasant planting;
he waited for justice, but instead, there was killing; for righteousness, but, instead, a shout for help.

8Woe to those who join house to house, who join field to field,
until no room remains, and you alone remain in the land!

9Yahweh of hosts told me,
many houses will be empty, even great and impressive ones, without any inhabitant.

10For a ten-yoke vineyard will yield only one bath, and one homer of seed will yield only an ephah.

11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to obtain strong drink,
those who linger late into the night until wine inflames them.

12They banquet with harp, lute, tambourine, flute, and wine,
but they do not recognize the work of Yahweh, nor have they considered the doings of his hands.

13Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of understanding;
their honored leaders go hungry, and their common people have nothing to drink.

14Therefore Sheol has made its appetite greater and has opened its mouth very wide;
their elite, the people, their leaders, and the revelers and those who are happy among them, descend into Sheol.

15Man will be forced to bend down, and mankind will be humbled; the eyes of the lofty will be cast down.

16Yahweh of hosts will be exalted in his justice, and God the Holy One will show himself holy by his righteousness.

17Then the sheep will feed as in their own pasture, and in the ruins, lambs will graze as foreigners. ¹

18Woe to those who pull along iniquity with useless cords and who pull along sin as if it were with a cart rope.

19Woe to those who say, “Let God hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see it happen;
and let the plans of the Holy One of Israel come, so that we may know them.”

20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who represent darkness as light, and light as darkness;
who represent bitter as sweet, and sweet as bitter!

21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own understanding!

22Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine, and masters at mixing strong drinks;

23who acquit the wicked for payment, and deprive the innocent of his rights!

24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and as the dry grass goes down in flame,
so their root will rot, and their blossom will blow away like dust.
This will happen because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts, and because they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore the anger of Yahweh is kindled against his people. He has reached out with his hand against them and has punished them.
The mountains tremble, and their corpses are like garbage in the streets.
In all these things, his anger does not subside; instead, his hand is still stretched out.

26He will lift up a signal flag for far away nations and will whistle for those at the end of the earth.
Look, they will come speedily and promptly.

27None tire or stumble among them; none slumbers or sleeps.
Nor are their belts loose, or the thongs of their sandals broken.

28Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are bent;
their horses' hooves are like flint, and their chariot wheels like storms.

29Their roaring will be like a lion; they will roar like young lions.
They will growl and seize the prey and drag it away, with none to rescue.

30On that day they will roar against the prey as the sea roars.
If anyone looks over the land, he will see darkness and suffering; even the light will be made dark by the clouds.