1Now will I sing to my Well-Beloved a song of my Beloved touching His vineyard. My Well-Beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; 2And He dug {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 in it {therein}; and He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard. 4What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why {wherefore}, when I looked for it to bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now {go to}; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge {thereof}, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall {thereof}, and it shall be trampled {trodden} down: 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. 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 {judgment}, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

8Woe unto them who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. 11Woe unto them who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who continue until night, till wine inflame them! 12And the harp, and the viol, the timbrel, and flute {pipe}, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of His hands. 13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 14Therefore sheol {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. 15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled; 16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in justice {judgment}, and God, Who is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall sojourners eat. 18Woe unto them who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope; 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 {nigh} and come, that we may know it! 20Woe unto them 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 who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 22Woe unto them who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix {mingle} strong drink: 23Who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! 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.

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 carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 26And He will lift up an ensign {banner} to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. 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; 28Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their 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 safely, and none shall deliver it.

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.