“1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his
vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 And
he 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 therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and
it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What
could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it
forth wild grapes? 5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my
vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up;
[and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 And 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. 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house
of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”
“8 Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field,
till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of
the earth! 9 In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many
houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant. 10
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an
homer shall yield an ephah. 11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the
morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night,
[till] wine inflame them! 12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and
pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the
LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. 13 Therefore my
people are gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and
their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with
thirst. 14 Therefore 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. 15 And the mean man shall
be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of
the lofty shall be humbled: 16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in
judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of
the fat ones shall strangers eat.”
“18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as
it were with a cart rope: 19 That 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 nigh and come, that we may know [it]! 20 Woe unto them that
call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe
unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own
sight! 22 Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of
strength to mingle strong drink: 23 Which justify the wicked for reward,
and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! 24 Therefore
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. 25 Therefore 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 carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his
anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still. 26 And
he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto
them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed
swiftly: 27 None 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: 28 Whose arrows [are] sharp,
and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like
flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 29 Their 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 safe, and none shall
deliver [it]. 30 And 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.” (Isaiah
5:1-30 AV)