Esias 5

1 Now I will sing to [my] beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard. [My] beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile place.

Let me sing, I pray you, for my beloved, A song of my beloved as to his vineyard: My beloved hath a vineyard in a fruitful hill,

2 And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited [for it] to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns.

And he fenceth it, and casteth out its stones, And planteth it [with] a choice vine, And buildeth a tower in its midst, And also a wine press hath hewn out in it, And he waiteth for the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

3 And now, you dwellers in Jerusalem, and [every] man of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.

And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man of Judah, Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.

4 What shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected [it] to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns.

What — to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be [left] to be trodden down.

And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.

6 And I will forsake my vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.

And I make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Juda [his] beloved plant: I expected [it] to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry.

Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts [Is] the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, a cry.

8 Woe [to them] that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's: will you dwell alone upon the land?

Woe [to] those joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!

9 For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts: for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and there shall be no inhabitants in them.

By the weapons of Jehovah of Hosts Do not many houses a desolation become? Great and good without inhabitant!

10 For where ten yoke of oxen plow [the land] shall yield one, and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.

For ten acres of vineyard do yield one bath, And an homer of seed yieldeth an ephah.

11 Woe [to them] that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait [at it till] evening: for the wine shall inflame them.

Woe [to] those rising early in the morning, Strong drink they pursue! Tarrying in twilight, wine inflameth them!

12 For they drink wine with harp, and lute, and drums, and pipes: but they regard not the works of the Lord, and consider not the works of his hands.

And harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.

13 Therefore my people have been taken captive, because they know not the Lord: and there has been a multitude of dead [bodies], because of hunger and of thirst for water.

Therefore my people removed without knowledge, And its honourable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of thirst.

14 Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down [into it]. (Sheol h7585)

Therefore hath Sheol enlarged herself, And hath opened her mouth without limit. And gone down hath its honour, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one — into her. (Sheol h7585)

15 And the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be disgraced, and the lofty eyes shall be brought low.

And bowed down is the low, and humbled the high, And the eyes of the haughty become low,

16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.

And Jehovah of Hosts is high in judgment, And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,

17 And they that were spoiled shall be fed as bulls, and lambs shall feed on the waste places of them that are taken away.

And fed have lambs according to their leading, And waste places of the fat ones Do sojourners consume.

18 Woe [to them] that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke:

Woe [to] those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as [with] thick ropes of the cart — sin.

19 who say, Let him speedily hasten what he will do, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know [it].

Who are saying, 'Let Him hurry, Let Him hasten His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.'

20 Woe [to them] that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.

Woe [to] those saying to evil 'good,' And to good 'evil,' Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, Putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

21 Woe [to them] that are wise in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight.

Woe [to] the wise in their own eyes, And — before their own faces — intelligent!

22 Woe to the strong [ones] of you that drink wine, and the mighty [ones] that mingle strong drink:

Woe [to] the mighty to drink wine, And men of strength to mingle strong drink.

23 who justify the ungodly for rewards, and take away the righteousness of the righteous.

Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside from him.

24 Therefore as stubble shall be burnt by a coal of fire, and shall be consumed by a violent flame, their root shall be as chaff, and their flower shall go up as dust: for they rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and insulted the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.

25 Therefore the Lord of hosts was greatly angered against his people, and he reached forth his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses were as dung in the midst of the way: yet for all this his anger has not been turned away, but his hand is yet raised.

Therefore hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is stretched out!

26 Therefore shall he lift up a signal to the nations that are afar, and shall hiss for them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they are coming very quickly.

And He lifted up an ensign to nations afar off, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And lo, with haste, swift it cometh.

27 They shall not hunger nor be weary, neither shall they slumber nor sleep; neither shall they loose their girdles from their loins, neither shall their shoe-latchets be broken.

There is none weary, nor stumbling in it, It doth not slumber, nor sleep, Nor opened hath been the girdle of its loins, Nor drawn away the latchet of its sandals.

28 Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses' hoofs are counted as solid rock: their chariot-wheels are as a storm.

Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!

29 They rage as lions, and draw near as a lion's whelps: and he shall seize, and roar as a wild beast, and he shall cast [them] forth, and there shall be none to deliver them.

Its roaring [is] like a lioness, It roareth like young lions, And it howleth, and seizeth prey, And carrieth away safely, and there is none delivering.

30 And he shall roar on account of them in that day, as the sound of the swelling sea; and they shall look to the land, and, behold, [there shall be] thick darkness in their perplexity.

And it howleth against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it hath looked attentively to the land, And lo, darkness — distress, And light hath been darkened by its abundance!