The Song of the Vineyard
(Luke 13:6–9)

1Nowe will I sing to my beloued a song of my beloued to his vineyarde, My beloued had a vineyarde in a very fruitefull hill,

2And hee hedged it, and gathered out the stones of it, and he planted it with the best plants, and hee builte a towre in the middes thereof, and made a wine presse therein: then hee looked that it should bring foorth grapes: but it brought foorth wilde grapes.

3Now therefore, O inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah, iudge, I pray you, betweene me, and my vineyarde.

4What coulde I haue done any more to my vineyard that I haue not done vnto it? why haue I looked that it should bring foorth grapes, and it bringeth foorth wilde grapes?

5And nowe I will tell you what I will do to my vineyarde: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten vp: I will breake the wall thereof, and it shall be troden downe:

6And I will laye it waste: it shall not be cut, nor digged, but briers, and thornes shall growe vp: I will also commande the cloudes that they raine no raine vpon it.

7Surely the vineyard of the Lord of hostes is the house of Israel, and the men of Iudah are his pleasant plant, and hee looked for iudgement, but beholde oppression: for righteousnesse, but beholde a crying.

Woes to the Wicked

8Woe vnto them that ioyne house to house, and laye fielde to fielde, till there bee no place, that ye may be placed by your selues in the mids of the earth.

9This is in mine cares, saith the Lorde of hostes. Surely many houses shall be desolate, euen great, and faire without inhabitant.

10For ten acres of vines shal yelde one bath, and the seede of an homer shal yelde an ephah.

11Wo vnto them, that rise vp early to followe drunkennes, and to them that continue vntill night, till the wine doe inflame them.

12And the harpe and viole, timbrel, and pipe, and wine are in their feastes: but they regard not the worke of the Lorde, neither consider the worke of his handes.

13Therefore my people is gone into captiuitie, because they had no knowledge, and the glorie thereof are men famished, and the multitude thereof is dried vp with thirst.

14Therefore hel hath inlarged it selfe, & hath opened his mouth, without measure, and their glorie, and their multitude, and their pompe, and hee that reioyceth among them, shall descend into it.

15And man shalbe brought downe, and man shalbe humbled, euen the eyes of the proude shalbe humbled.

16And the Lorde of hostes shalbe exalted in iudgement, and the holy God shalbe sanctified in iustice.

17Then shall the lambes feede after their maner, and the strangers shall eate the desolate places of the fat.

18Woe vnto them, that draw iniquitie with cordes of vanitie, and sinne, as with cart ropes:

19Which say, Let him make speede: let him hasten his worke, that wee may see it: and let the counsell of the holy one of Israel draw neere and come, that we may knowe it.

20Woe vnto them that speake good of euill, and euill of good, which put darkenes for light, and light for darkenes, that put bitter for sweete, and sweete for sowre.

21Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes, and prudent in their owne sight.

22Wo vnto them that are mightie to drinke wine, and to them that are strong to powre in strong drinke:

23Which iustifie the wicked for a rewarde, and take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him.

24Therefore as the flame of fire deuoureth the stubble, and as the chaffe is cosumed of the flame: so their roote shalbe as rottennesse, and their bud shall rise vp like dust, because they haue cast off the Lawe of the Lorde of hostes, and contemned the word of the holy one of Israel.

25Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and hee hath stretched out his hand vpon them, and hath smitten them that the mountaines did tremble: and their carkases were torne in the middes of the streetes, and for all this his wrath was not turned away, but his hande was stretched out still.

26And he will lift vp a signe vnto the nations a farre, and wil hisse vnto them from the ende of the earth: and beholde, they shall come hastily with speede.

27None shall faint nor fall among them: none shall slumber nor sleepe, neither shall the girdle of his loynes be loosed, nor the latchet of his shooes be broken:

28Whose arrowes shall be sharpe, and all his bowes bent: his horse hoofes shal be thought like flint, and his wheeles like a whirlewinde.

29His roaring shalbe like a lyon, and he shall roare like lyons whelpes: they shall roare, and lay holde of the praye: they shall take it away, and none shall deliuer it.

30And in that day they shal roare vpon them, as the roaring of the sea: and if they looke vnto the earth, beholde darkenesse, and sorowe, and the light shalbe darkened in their skie.