| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: | 1I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. |
| 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. | 2He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. |
| 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. | 3"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. |
| 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? | 4What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? |
| 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: | 5Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. |
| 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. | 6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to 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 judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. | 7The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. |
| 8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! | 8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. |
| 9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. | 9The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: "Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants. |
| 10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. | 10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine; a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain." |
| 11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! | 11Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. |
| 12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. | 12They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands. |
| 13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. | 13Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst. |
| 14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. | 14Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. |
| 15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: | 15So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. |
| 16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. | 16But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts. |
| 17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. | 17Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich. |
| 18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: | 18Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, |
| 19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! | 19to those who say, "Let God hurry; let him hasten his work so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel-- let it approach, let it come into view, so we may know it." |
| 20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! | 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 unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! | 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. |
| 22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: | 22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, |
| 23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! | 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. |
| 24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. | 24Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. |
| 25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. | 25Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised. |
| 26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: | 26He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily! |
| 27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: | 27Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken. |
| 28Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: | 28Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. |
| 29Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. | 29Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue. |
| 30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. | 30In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, there is only darkness and distress; even the sun will be darkened by clouds. |
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