CHAPTER 5

1 Come, I will sing for my beloved
A song of my beloved to his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
On a hill, the son of oil.

2 He fenced it, and gathered out the stones,
And planted it as a choice vine;
He reared a tower in the midst of it,
And built a wine-press in it:
He therefore hoped that it would yield grapes,
And it yieldeth wild grapes.

3 Now then, O inhabitant of Jerusalem,
And man of Judah,
Judge ye between me and my vineyard.

4 What more ought to have been done to my vineyard,
Which I have not done to it?
How did I look that it should yield grapes,
And yet it hath yielded wild grapes?

5 And now come, I will shew to you
What I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, that it may become pasture;
I will break down its wall, that it may be trodden down.

6 I will lay it waste;
It shall not be pruned nor digged;
And the brier and thorn shall grow up.
Yea, I will command the clouds
That they do not rain on it.

7 Verily the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
Hence he looked for judgment, and behold oppression;
For righteousness, and behold a cry.

8 Wo to them that join house to house,
And add field to field,
Till there be no place;
That you may be placed alone
In the midst of the earth.

9 This is in the ears of Jehovah of hosts,
If many houses be not laid desolate,
Great and fair, without inhabitant.

10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath,
And the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.

11 Wo to them that rise early
To follow drunkenness,
And who prolong the time till night,
While wine inflameth them.

12 And the harp, the lyre, the tabret, and the pipe, and wine
Are in their entertainments;
But they do not regard the work of Jehovah,
Nor consider the operation of his hands.

13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity,
Because they have no knowledge;
And their glory are men famished,
And their multitude are dried up with thirst.

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged his soul,
And opened his mouth without measure;
And his glory and his multitude hath descended,
And his wealth, and he that rejoiced in her.

15 And the man of low degree shall be bowed down,
And the man of rank shall be humbled;
Yea, the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled.

16 And Jehovah of hosts shall be exalted in judgment,
And God, who is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness.

17 And the lambs shall feed after their manner,
And the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

18 Wo to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity,
And sin as with cart-ropes.

19 Who say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work,
That we may see it;
Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
That we may know it.

20 Wo to them that call evil good,
And good evil;
That put darkness for light,
And light for darkness;
That turn bitter into sweet,
And sweet into bitter.

21 Wo to them that are wise in their own eyes,
And are prudent in their own sight.

22 Wo to them that are powerful to drink wine,
And powerful men to mingle strong drink;

23 Who justify the wicked for reward,
And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.

24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble,
And the chaff is consumed by the flame;
So their root shall be as rottenness,
And their blossom shall pass away as dust;
Because they have cast away the law of Jehovah of hosts,
And have loathed the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of Jehovah
Hath been kindled against his people,
And, stretching forth his hand against them,
He hath smitten them;
And the mountains trembled,
And their torn carcass was thrown into the midst of the streets;
And for all these things his anger hath not been turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.

26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar;
He will hiss to the nation from the end of the earth;
And lo, it will come speedy and swift.

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them;
None shall slumber nor sleep;
None shall have the girdle of their loins loosed,
Nor shall the latchet of their shoes be broken.

28 Their arrows will be sharp,
And all their bows bent.
The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as flint,
And their wheels as a whirlwind.

29 Their roaring shall be like that of a lion;
They shall roar like young lions;
They shall gnash and seize the prey;
They shall carry away the spoils,
And none shall deliver.

30 He shall roar against them in that day, as the roaring of the sea;
Then shall he look to the earth,
And behold! the darkness of tribulation;
And the light shall be darkened in the heavens.