The song of the vineyard
5
3 Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
3 judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do
4 that I have not done for my vineyard?
4 Good grapes was the yield I expected,
4 why did it yield only sour grapes?
5 Now I will let you know
5 what I am going to do
5 with my vineyard:
5 I will remove its hedge
5 and it will be burned;
5 I will break down its wall
5 and it will be trampled on.
7 The vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth
7 is the people of Israel,
7 and the people of Judah
7 are his pleasant vine.
7 He looked for justice,
7 but found bloodshed;
7 He looked for righteousness
7 but heard cries of distress.
Woe to you rich!
9 Yahweh Sabaoth has sworn in my hearing:
9 “Many houses will remain in ruins,
9 beautiful mansions without occupants.
10 Ten acres of vineyard
10 will yield only a barrel of wine;
10 ten bushels of seed,
10 only a bushel of grain.”
12 They have lyres and harps,
12 timbrels and flutes,
12 and wine at their banquets;
12 but they have no thought for the deeds of the Lord,
12 nor do they see his plans.
13 Thus my people will go into exile
13 for want of understanding,
13 their dignitaries dying of hunger,
13 their masses parched with thirst.
14 Therefore the grave has enlarged its throat
14 and opened its mouth to the full;
14 it swallows the upper crust of Zion,
14 their throngs and their revelry.
15 Man shall be humbled
15 and the mortal fallen,
15 and the eyes of the haughty cast down.
17 fatlings and kids will browse among the ruins.)
18 Woe to those who haul their wrongs with cords of deceit,
18 to those who pull a cart of sins,
22 Woe to those who are champions in mixing drinks
22 and valiant at drinking bouts,
23 but acquit the guilty for a bribe
23 and deprive the innocent of his right.
24 Therefore, as the tongues of fire lick up stubble,
24 as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
24 so their roots will rot,
24 and their flowers be blown away like dust,
24 for they have rejected the law of Yahweh Sabaoth
24 and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord,
25 his wrath burning against his people,
25 raises his hand against them
25 and strikes them down.
25 The mountains quake:
25 the corpses litter the streets.
25 Yet for all this his anger does not subside,
25 his hand is still raised, poised to strike.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
28 all their bows are strong:
28 their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
28 their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.
29 They roar like young lions;
29 they growl as they seize their prey,
29 no one to rescue it as they carry it off.