| NET Bible | New International Version |
| 1I will sing to my love--a song to my lover about his vineyard. My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill. | 1I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. |
| 2He built a hedge around it, removed its stones, and planted a vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress. He waited for it to produce edible grapes, but it produced sour ones instead. | 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. |
| 3So now, residents of Jerusalem, people of Judah, you decide between me and my vineyard! | 3"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. |
| 4What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead? | 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? |
| 5Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. | 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. |
| 6I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on 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." |
| 7Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got--disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got--cries for help! | 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. |
| 8Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. | 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. |
| 9The LORD who commands armies told me this: "Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. | 9The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: "Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants. |
| 10Indeed, a large vineyard will produce just a few gallons, and enough seed to yield several bushels will produce less than a bushel." | 10A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine; a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain." |
| 11Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine. | 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. |
| 12They have stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the LORD is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about. | 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 will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink. | 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. |
| 14So Death will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; Zion's dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. | 14Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. |
| 15Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low. | 15So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. |
| 16The LORD who commands armies will be exalted when he punishes, the sovereign God's authority will be recognized when he judges. | 16But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts. |
| 17Lambs will graze as if in their pastures, amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. | 17Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich. |
| 18Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes. | 18Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, |
| 19They say, "Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will 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." |
| 20Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into 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. |
| 21Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding. | 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. |
| 22Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead, who display great courage when mixing strong drinks. | 22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, |
| 23They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent. | 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. |
| 24Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the LORD who commands armies, they have spurned the commands 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. |
| 25So the LORD is furious with his people; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. | 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. |
| 26He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth. Look, they come quickly and 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 tire or stumble, they don't stop to nap or sleep. They don't loosen their belts, or unstrap their sandals to rest. | 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. |
| 28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are prepared. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. | 28Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. |
| 29Their roar is like a lion's; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue. | 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. |
| 30At that time they will growl over their prey, it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster, clouds will turn the light into darkness. | 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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