| Chapter 5 |
| 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. |
