5  Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had ^va vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2  He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with ^wchoice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and ^xhe looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

4  ^yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

^xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

5  And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove ^zits hedge,

and it shall be devoured;¹

^aI will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

6  I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and ^bbriers and thorns shall grow up;

^cI will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

7  ^dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;²

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!³

8  Woe to those who ^ejoin house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land.

9  The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

^f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

10  ^gFor ten acres⁴ of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a ^hhomer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”⁵

11  Woe to those who ⁱrise early in the morning,

that they may run after strong drink,

who tarry late into the evening

as wine inflames them!

12  ^jThey have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,

^kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands.

13  Therefore my people go into exile

^lfor lack of knowledge;⁶

their ^mhonored men go hungry,⁷

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

14  Therefore Sheol has ⁿenlarged its appetite

and opened ^oits mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem⁸ and her multitude will go down,

her revelers and he who ^pexults in her.

15  ^qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty⁹ are brought low.

16  ^rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted¹⁰ in justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

17  Then shall the lambs graze ^sas in their pasture,

and ^tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

18  Woe to those who draw iniquity with ^ucords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes,

19  who say: ^v“Let him be quick,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

and let it come, that we may know it!”

20  Woe to ^wthose who call evil good

and good evil,

^xwho put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

21  Woe to those who are ^ywise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

22  Woe to those who are ^zheroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23  who ^aacquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!

24  Therefore, ^bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so ^ctheir root will be ^das rottenness,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have ^erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

and have ^fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25  Therefore ^gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,

and ^hthe mountains quaked;

and their corpses were ⁱas refuse

in the midst of the streets.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

26  He will ^kraise a signal for nations far away,

and ^lwhistle for them ^mfrom the ends of the earth;

and behold, quickly, speedily they come!

27  ⁿNone is weary, none stumbles,

none slumbers or sleeps,

not a waistband is loose,

not a sandal strap broken;

28  ^otheir arrows are sharp,

all their bows bent,

their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels ^plike the whirlwind.

29  Their roaring is like a lion,

like young lions they roar;

they growl and ^qseize their prey;

they carry it off, and none can rescue.

30  They will growl over it on that day,

like the growling of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

behold, ^rdarkness and distress;

and the light is darkened by its clouds.

^u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

^vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”²

^d“‘Keep on hearing,³ but do not understand;

keep on seeing,⁴ but do not perceive.’

10  ^eMake the heart of this people ^fdull,⁵

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

^glest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

11  Then I said, ^h“How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until ⁱcities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

12  and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13  ^jAnd though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned⁶ again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump ^kremains

when it is felled.”

^lThe holy seed⁷ is its stump.

^w“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

8  For the head of Syria is ^xDamascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

9  And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is ^ythe son of Remaliah.

^zIf you⁵ are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’”

9  Be broken,⁴ you peoples, and ^kbe shattered;⁵

give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered;

strap on your armor and be shattered.

10  Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

speak a word, ^lbut it will not stand,

for God ^mis with us.⁶

2  ^{3 i}The people ^kwho walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of ^ldeep darkness,

on them has light shone.

3  ^mYou have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with ⁿjoy at the harvest,

as they ^oare glad ^pwhen they divide the spoil.

4  ^qFor the yoke of his burden,

^rand the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as ^son the day of Midian.

5  ^tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6  ^uFor to us a child is born,

to us ^va son is given;

^wand the government shall be ^xupon⁴ his shoulder,

and his name shall be called⁵

Wonderful ^yCounselor, ^zMighty God,

^aEverlasting ^bFather, Prince of ^cPeace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

^dthere will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

^ewith justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

^fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

8  The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

9  and all the people will know,

^gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

10  “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11  But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

12  ^hThe Syrians on the east and ⁱthe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

13  The people ^kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

14  So the Lord cut off from Israel ^lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

15  ^mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and ⁿthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

16  for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17  Therefore the Lord does not ^orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is ^pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks ^qfolly.⁶

^jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like ^ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19  Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and ^sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

^tno one spares another.

20  ^uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

^veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are ^wagainst Judah.

^xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.