| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. | 1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. |
| 2He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. | 2He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! |
| 3“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. | 3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. |
| 4What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? | 4What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? |
| 5And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. | 5Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. |
| 6I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.” | 6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.” |
| 7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. | 7For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress. |
| 8Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till there is no place Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land! | 8Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land. |
| 9In my hearing the LORD of hosts said, “Truly, many houses shall be desolate, Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant. | 9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. |
| 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, And a homer of seed shall yield one ephah.” | 10For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” |
| 11Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! | 11Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. |
| 12The harp and the strings, The tambourine and flute, And wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands. | 12At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. |
| 13Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst. | 13Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. |
| 14Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself And opened its mouth beyond measure; Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it. | 14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! |
| 15People shall be brought down, Each man shall be humbled, And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. | 15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. |
| 16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness. | 16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. |
| 17Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture, And in the waste places of the fat ones strangers shall eat. | 17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. |
| 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope; | 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along 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 near and come, That we may know it.” | 19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” |
| 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! | 20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. |
| 21Woe to those who 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 to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, | 22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer, |
| 23Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! | 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. |
| 24Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. | 24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. |
| 25Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. | 25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. |
| 26He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. | 26He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! |
| 27No one will be weary or stumble among them, No one will slumber or sleep; Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; | 27None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. |
| 28Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like a whirlwind. | 28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. |
| 29Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver. | 29Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance. |
| 30In that day they will roar against them Like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; And the light is darkened by the clouds. | 30In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds. |
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