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v1
Let me sing for my beloved a song of my love concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard ^[Literally “A vineyard was for my beloved”] on a fertile hill. ^[Literally “a horn of a son of olive oil.” The Hebrew for horn, qeren, sounds like the Hebrew for vineyard, kerem]
v2
And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it with choice vines, ^[Hebrew “vine”] and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for it to yield grapes— but it yielded wild grapes.
v3
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men ^[Hebrew “man”] of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
v4
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?
v5
And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. I will break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.
v6
And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers ^[Hebrew “brier”] and thornbushes. ^[Hebrew “thornbush”] And concerning the clouds, I will command them not to send ^[Literally “from sending”] rain down upon it.
v7
For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the man ^[Or “people”] of Judah is the plantation of his delight.
And he waited for justice, ^[The Hebrew word, mishpat, sounds like mishpakh in the next line]
but look! Bloodshed! ^[The Hebrew word, mishpakh, sounds like mishpat in the previous line]
For righteousness, ^[The Hebrew word, tsedaqah, sounds like tsaaqah_ in the next line] but look! A cry of distress! ^[The Hebrew word, _tsaaqah, sounds like tsedaqah in the previous line]
v8
Ah! Those who join ^[Literally “touch”] house with house, they join field together with field until there is no place ^[Literally “an end of place”] and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
v9
Yahweh of hosts said in my ears: Surely ^[Literally “If not”] many houses shall become a desolation, large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.
v10
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, ^[A bath is a liquid measure] and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah. ^[An ephah is a dry measure equal to one-tenth of a homer]
v11
Ah! Those who rise early in the morning, they pursue strong drink. Those who linger in the evening, wine inflames them.
v12
And there will be lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts, but they do not look at the deeds ^[Hebrew “deed”] of Yahweh, and they do not see the work of his hands.
v13
Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, and their ^[Hebrew “its”] nobles ^[Hebrew “noble”] will be men of hunger, and their ^[Hebrew “its”] multitude is parched with thirst.
v14
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat, and it has opened wide its mouth without limit, and her ^[That is, Jerusalem’s] nobles ^[Hebrew “noble”] will go down, and her multitude, her tumult and those who revel in her.
v15
And humankind is bowed down, and man is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.
v16
But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice, and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.
v17
And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and fatlings, kids ^[Following the Septuagint, which reads the Hebrew grym (resident aliens) as gdym (young goats/sheep)] will eat among the sites of ruins. ^[Literally “and ruins, fatlings, resident aliens, will eat”]
v18
Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood and sin as with rope of the cart,
v19
those who say, “Let him make haste; let him hurry his work so that we may see it and let it draw near and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come so that we may know it!“
v20
Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil, those who put darkness for light and light for darkness, those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
v21
Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes and have understanding in their view! ^[Literally “before their faces”]
v22
Ah! Heroes at drinking wine, and men of capability at mixing strong drink!
v23
Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe and remove the justice of the innocent from him.
v24
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will become like the stench, and their blossom will go up like the dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.
v25
Therefore Yahweh’s wrath was kindled ^[Literally “the anger of Yahweh became hot”] against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them ^[Hebrew “it”] and struck them, ^[Hebrew “it”] and the mountains quaked, and their corpses ^[Hebrew “corpse”] were like refuse in the middle of the streets. In all of this his anger has not turned back, and still his hand is stretched out.
v26
And he will raise a signal for a nation ^[The Hebrew is plural, but the following verses refer to the nation as singular] from afar, and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth. And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!
v27
None is weary, and none among him stumbles; none slumbers and none sleeps. And no loincloth on his waist is opened, and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.
v28
Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.
v29
His roaring is like the lion, and he roars like young lions. And he growls and seizes his prey, and he carries it off, and not one can rescue it.
v30
And he will roar over him on that day like the roaring of the sea, and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress! And the light grows dark with its ^[Presumably the land’s] clouds.