05:001

Let me sing of my well-beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. my well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill

05:002

And he digged it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a vat therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes

05:003

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

05:004

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

05:005

And now come, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the fence thereof, and it shall be trodden down

05:006

And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it

05:007

For the vineyard of HaShem of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah the plant of His delight; and He looked for justice, but behold violence; for righteousness, but behold a cry

05:008

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land

05:009

In mine ears said HaShem of hosts: of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant

05:010

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah

05:011

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them

05:012

And the harp and the psaltery, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of HaShem, neither have they considered the operation of His hands

05:013

Therefore My people are gone into captivity, for want of knowledge; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst

05:014

Therefore the nether-world hath enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure; and down goeth their glory, and their tumult, and their uproar, and he that rejoiceth among them

05:015

And man is bowed down, and man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled

05:016

But HaShem of hosts is exalted through justice, and G-d the Holy One is sanctified through righteousness

05:017

Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat

05:018

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope

05:019

That say: 'Let Him make speed, let Him 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!

05:020

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that change darkness into light, and light into darkness; that change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter

05:021

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight

05:022

Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink

05:023

That justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him

05:024

Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the chaff is consumed in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of HaShem of hosts, and contemned the word of the Holy One of Israel

05:025

Therefore is the anger of HaShem kindled against His people, and He hath stretched forth His hand against them, and hath smitten them, and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still

05:026

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

05:027

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

05:028

Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind

05:029

Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions, yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver

05:030

And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea; and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress, and the light is darkened in the skies thereof