Chapter 5
1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard . My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill .
2 He dug it up , gathered out its stones , planted it with the choicest vine , built a tower in the middle of it , and also cut out a wine press in it . He looked for it to yield grapes , but it yielded wild grapes .
3 " Now , inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah , please judge 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 for it to yield grapes , did it yield wild grapes ?
5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard . I will take away its hedge , and it will be eaten up . I will break down its wall , and it will be trampled down .
6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed , but it will grow briers and thorns . I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it ."
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel , and the men of Judah his pleasant plant . He looked for justice , but behold , oppression , for righteousness , but behold , a cry of distress .
8 Woe to those who join house to house , who lay field to field , until there is no room , and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land !
9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: " Surely many houses will be desolate , even great and beautiful , unoccupied.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath , and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning , that they may follow strong drink , who stay late into the night , until wine inflames them !
12 The harp , lyre , tambourine , and flute , with wine , are at their feasts ; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh , neither have they considered the operation of his hands .
13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge . Their honorable men are famished , and their multitudes are parched with thirst .
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire , and opened its mouth without measure ; and their glory , their multitude , their pomp , and he who rejoices among them , descend into it .
15 So man is brought low , mankind is humbled , and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled ;
16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice , and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness .
17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture , and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood , and wickedness as with cart rope ,
19 who say , "Let him make haste , let him hasten his work , that we may see it ; 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 champions at mixing strong drink ;
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe , but deny justice for the innocent !
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble , and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame , so their root shall be as rottenness , and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies , and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel .
25 Therefore Yahweh ’s anger burns against his people , and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them . The mountains tremble , and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets . For all this , his anger is not turned away , but his hand is still stretched out .
26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away , and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold , they will come speedily and swiftly .
27 No one shall be weary nor stumble among them ; no one shall slumber nor sleep , neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken ,
28 whose arrows are sharp , and all their bows bent . Their horses ’ hoofs will be like flint , and their wheels like a whirlwind .
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness . They will roar like young lions . Yes, they shall roar , and seize their prey and carry it off , and there will be no one to deliver .
30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea . If one looks to the land, behold , darkness and distress . The light is darkened in its clouds .