Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard

044

¹My beloved had a vineyard on a valued hill

^2aHe worked the soil and cleared it of stones

^2bHe planted rare vines.

^2cHe built a tower in its midst and also hewed a wine press in it.

^2dHe waited eagerly for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded fetid fruit.

³And now dwellers of Jerusalem, people of Judah, Judge, please, between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more was there to do for my vineyard that I did not do in it?

Why did I wait eagerly for it to yield grapes, When it yielded fetid fruit?

⁵And now let me inform you of what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,
and it will be consumed;

I will breach its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.

⁶I will lay it waste;
it will not be pruned or hoed,
briers and thorns will sprout up.

And to the clouds, I will command that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷For the vineyard of the lord of hosts
is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;

he waited eagerly for judgment,
but saw bloodshed;
For righteousness, but heard a cry!

Isaiah 5:1–7

(The translation from Hebrew is the author’s own.)