1Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. 2And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it [with] choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked [for it] to produce grapes. And it produced wild grapes. 3And now, O people of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard. 4What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked [for it] to yield grapes, but it yielded rotten grapes. 5And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down; 6and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. 7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant; and He looked for justice, but behold bloody iniquity; for righteousness, but behold a cry! 8Woe [to] those who join house to house, laying field to field, until the end of space, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land! 9The LORD of hosts [swore] in my ears, Truly many houses shall be deserted, big and fair, without inhabitant. 10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah. 11Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to go after strong drink; tarrying in the twilight [while] wine inflames them! 12And the lyre, and the harp, the timbrel, and pipe, and wine, are [at] their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD. Yea, they do not see the work of His hands. 13For this My people go into exile without knowledge, and their honorable men into famine, and his multitude is dried up with thirst. 14So hell has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pride, and he who rejoices in her, shall go down into it. 15And man is bowed down, and man is humbled and the eyes of the lofty are humbled. 16But the LORD of hosts is exalted in judgment, and God the holy One is sanctified in righteousness. 17Then shall the lambs feed in their way, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin with cart ropes; 19who say, Let Him hurry [and] hasten His work, so that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know! 20Woe 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! 21Woe to those wise in their own eyes, and bright in their own sight! 22Woe to those mighty to drink wine, and brave men to mix strong drink; 23who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! 24So, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff; their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust, because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel. 25Therefore the anger of the LORD is kindled on His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has stricken them; and the hills trembled, and their dead bodies [were] as filth in the midst of the streets. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand [is] stretched out still. 26And He will lift up a banner to distant nations, and will hiss to them from the ends of the earth; and behold, they shall come [with] swift speed. 27None [shall be] weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the waistcoat of their loins be loosened, nor the thong of their sandals be broken; 28whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. 29Their roaring [shall be] like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; for, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it]. 30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and [one] looks to the land, behold darkness, and lo, darkness! Distress! And the light shall be darkened by its clouds.