1Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
2He put a fence around it, and cleared the stones out of it, and planted it with the best vines. He built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a winepress in it. Then he waited for it to give him grapes, but it gave him wild grapes.
3And now, people who live in Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I ask you, between me and my vineyard.
4What more could have been done for my vineyard that I did not do in it? So why, when I waited for it to give grapes, did it give wild grapes?
5Now then, 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.
6I will make it a waste. It will not be pruned or dug. Briers and thorns will come up in it. I will also command the clouds to send no rain on it.
7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant he delighted in. He looked for justice, but look, there was oppression; for righteousness, but look, there was a cry.
8Sorrow is coming to those who join house to house, and add field to field, until there is no room left, and they live alone in the middle of the land.
9The LORD of hosts said in my hearing, "Truly many houses will be left empty, great and fine houses, with no one living in them."
10"Yes, ten acres of vineyard will give only one bath of wine, and a homer of seed will give only an ephah."
11Sorrow is coming to those who get up early in the morning to run after strong drink, and stay up late into the night until wine sets them on fire.
12At their feasts they have the harp and the lyre, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine. But they pay no attention to the work of the LORD, and they do not consider what his hands have done.
13So my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. Their honoured men are starving, and the crowds of them are dried up with thirst.
14So hell has made itself wide, and opened its mouth beyond all measure. Their glory, and their crowds, and their noise, and the one who is celebrating, will all go down into it.
15The common man will be brought down, and the mighty man will be humbled, and the eyes of the proud will be humbled.
16But the LORD of hosts will be lifted high in justice, and God who is holy will be shown holy in righteousness.
17Then the lambs will graze as they always do, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the rich.
18Sorrow is coming to those who drag guilt along with cords of worthlessness, and sin as if with a cart rope,
19and who say, "Let him hurry, let him be quick with his work, so that we may see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come near and arrive, so that we may know it."
20Sorrow is coming 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.
21Sorrow is coming to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight.
22Sorrow is coming to those who are mighty at drinking wine, and men of strength at mixing strong drink,
23who for a bribe declare the wicked to be in the right, and take away from the righteous man his righteousness.
24So, as fire eats up the dry stalks, and the flame burns up the chaff, so their root will rot, and their blossom will blow away like dust. For they have thrown away the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25So the anger of the LORD burns against his people. He has stretched out his hand against them and struck them. The hills shook, and their dead bodies were torn apart in the middle of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26He will lift up a banner for the nations far away, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth. And look, they will come quickly and fast.
27None of them will be tired or stumble. None will doze or sleep. No belt at their waist will come loose, and no strap of their shoes will break.
28Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. Their horses' hoofs are like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29Their roaring is like a lion. They roar like young lions. Yes, they roar, and seize the prey, and carry it safely away, and no one can rescue it.
30On that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if anyone looks at the land, look, there is darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened by its clouds.