Esias 5

1 Now I will sing to [my] beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard. [My] beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile place.

I will sing now for my beloved, the song of my dear one touching his vineyard. A vineyard had my beloved on a rich hill-top;

2 And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited [for it] to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns.

And he fenced it in, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in its midst, and also a winepress he hewed out therein: and he hoped that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth worthless fruit.

3 And now, you dwellers in Jerusalem, and [every] man of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.

4 What shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected [it] to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns.

What more was to be done to my vineyard, that I had not done in it? Why then did I hope that it should bring forth grapes, while it brought forth worthless fruit?

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be [left] to be trodden down.

And now I will let you know also what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten off; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down;

6 And I will forsake my vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.

And I will lay it quite waste; it shall not be pruned, nor hoed around; and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; and the clouds will I command that they send down no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Juda [his] beloved plant: I expected [it] to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he hoped for justice, but behold injustice; for equity, but behold iniquity.

8 Woe [to them] that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's: will you dwell alone upon the land?

Woe unto those that cause house to join on house, bring field near to field, till there is no more room, so that ye may be left alone as the inhabitants in the midst of the land!

9 For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and there shall be no inhabitants in them.

In my ears [spoke] the Lord of hosts, Truly many houses shall become desolate, yea, great and beautiful ones without an inhabitant.

10 For where ten yoke of oxen plow [the land] shall yield one, and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.

Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield [but] one bath, and a chomer-seed shall yield [but] an ephah.

11 Woe [to them] that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait [at it till] evening: for the wine shall inflame them.

Woe unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink; that continue until late in the twilight, till wine inflame them!

12 For they drink wine with harp, and lute, and drums, and pipes: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of his hands.

And there are harp and psaltery, tambourine and flute, and wine at their drinking-feasts; but the deeds of the Lord they regard not, and the works of his hands they behold not.

13 Therefore my people have been taken captive, because they know not the Lord: and there has been a multitude of dead [bodies], because of hunger and of thirst for water.

Therefore are my people led into exile, for want of knowledge: and their honorable men suffer of famine, and their multitude are panting with thirst.

14 Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down [into it]. (Sheol h7585)

Therefore hath the deep enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure: and there descend [Jerusalem's] glory, and her multitude, and her noise, and whoever rejoiced therein. (Sheol h7585)

15 And the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be disgraced, and the lofty eyes shall be brought low.

And bent down shall be the son of earth, and humbled shall be the man, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled;

16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.

And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified by [displaying his] righteousness.

17 And they that were spoiled shall be fed as bulls, and lambs shall feed on the waste places of them that are taken away.

Then shall the sheep feed according to their wont, and the ruins of the fat ones shall sojourners eat.

18 Woe [to them] that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke:

Woe unto those that draw iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and as with a wagon-rope, sinfulness;

19 who say, Let him speedily hasten what he will do, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know [it].

That say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it: and let draw nigh and come the counsel of the Holy One of Israel, that we may know it!

20 Woe [to them] that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.

Woe unto those that say of the evil it is good, and of the good it is evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe [to them] that are wise in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight.

Woe unto those that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own esteem!

22 Woe to the strong [ones] of you that drink wine, and the mighty [ones] that mingle strong drink:

Woe unto those that are heroes to drink wine, and men of might to mingle strong drink;

23 who justify the ungodly for rewards, and take away the righteousness of the righteous.

Who justify the wicked in lieu of a bribe, and who deprive the righteous of their right!

24 Therefore as stubble shall be burnt by a coal of fire, and shall be consumed by a violent flame, their root shall be as chaff, and their flower shall go up as dust: for they rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and insulted the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and dry hay sinketh before the flame: so shall their root be as rotten things, and their blossom shall fly up as the dust; because they have despised the law of the Lord of hosts, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have rejected.

25 Therefore the Lord of hosts was greatly angered against his people, and he reached forth his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses were as dung in the midst of the way: yet for all this his anger has not been turned away, but his hand is yet raised.

For this cause is kindled the anger of the Lord against his people, and he stretcheth forth his hand against them, and he smiteth them; and the mountains tremble, and their carcasses lie like sweepings in the midst of the streets: with all this his anger is not turned away, but still is his hand stretched out.

26 Therefore shall he lift up a signal to the nations that are afar, and shall hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they are coming very quickly.

And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will call for one of them from the end of the earth; and, behold, with speed, swiftly, it cometh;

27 They shall not hunger nor be weary, neither shall they slumber nor sleep; neither shall they loose their girdles from their loins, neither shall their shoe-latchets be broken.

There is none weary, nor stumbling among its men; it slumbereth not, it sleepeth not; not loosened is the girdle of its loins, not broken is the latchet of its shoes;

28 Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses' hoofs are counted as solid rock: their chariot-wheels are as a storm.

Whose arrows are sharpened, and all whose bows are bent; its horses hoofs are hard like the flint, and its wheels like the whirlwind;

29 They rage as lions, and draw near as a lion's whelps: and he shall seize, and roar as a wild beast, and he shall cast [them] forth, and there shall be none to deliver them.

It hath a roar like the lioness, it roareth like the young lions: yea, it growleth, and layeth hold of the prey, and carrieth it safely off, with none to deliver.

30 And he shall roar on account of them in that day, as the sound of the swelling sea; and they shall look to the land, and, behold, [there shall be] thick darkness in their perplexity.

And it will rage against them on that day like with the raging of the sea: and if one look unto the earth, behold, there is darkness, oppression, and the light is darkened through the darkness of its clouds.