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¹ Nowe wyll I syng my beloued friende, a song of my friende touching his vineyard: My beloued friende hath a vineyarde in a very fruiteful plenteous grounde.² This he hedged, and gathered out the stones from it, and planted it with the choysest vine: In the middest of it builded he a towre, also made a wine presse therin: and he loked that it shoulde bring him grapes, and it brought foorth wylde grapes.³ Nowe O citezen of Hierusalem, and man of Iuda, iudge I pray thee betwixt me and my vineyarde:⁴ What more coulde haue ben done for it, that I haue not done? Wherfore then hath it geuen wylde grapes, where I loked to haue had grapes of it?⁵ Well, nowe I shall tell you howe I will do with my vineyarde: I will take the hedge from it, that it may perishe, and breake downe the wall therof, that it may be troden vnder foote.⁶ I wyll lay it waste, it shall neither be digged nor cut, but beare thornes and briers: I wyll also forbyd the cloudes that they shall not rayne vpon it.⁷ As for the vineyarde of the Lorde of hoastes, it is the house of Israel: and the man of Iuda, the plant of his pleasure: Of these he loked for equitie, but see there is oppression for ryghteousnesse, and lo it is a crying.

⁸ Wo vnto them that ioyne one house to another, and bring one lande so nigh vnto another, that there is no more place: Wyll ye be placed alone in the myddest of the earth?⁹ These thynges are in the eares of the Lorde of hoastes: of a trueth great and faire houses shalbe without any dweller in them.¹⁰ And tenne acres of vines shall geue but a quart, and thirtie busshels of seede shall geue but an Epha.¹¹ Wo be vnto them that rise vp early to folowe drunkennesse, continuyng vntyll nyght, tyll they be set on fire with wine.¹² In their feastes are harpes and lutes, tabrettes and pipes, and wine: but they regarde not the worke of the Lord, and consider not the operatio of his handes.¹³ Therfore commeth my folke into captiuitie, because they haue no vnderstandyng: Their glorie is famished with hunger, and their multitude dryed vp with thirst.¹⁴ Therfore gapeth hell and openeth her mouth marueilous wyde, that their glorie, multitude, and wealth, with such as reioyce in her, may descende into it.¹⁵ Thus hath man a fall and is brought lowe, and the hygh loke of the proude shalbe layde downe.¹⁶ But the Lorde of hoastes shalbe exalted in iudgement, and God that is holy is sanctified in ryghteousnesse.¹⁷ Then shall the sheepe eate as they were wont, and the riche mens landes that were layde waste shall straungers deuour.

¹⁸ Wo be vnto them that drawe wickednesse with cordes of vanitie, and sinne as it were with a cart rope.¹⁹ Which vse to speake on this maner, Let hym make speede and hasten his worke, that we may see it: let the counsayle of the holy one of Israel come and drawe nye, that we may knowe it.²⁰ Wo be vnto them that call euyll good, and good euyll, which make darknesse lyght, and lyght darknesse, that make sowre sweete, and sweete sowre.²¹ Wo be vnto them that are wise in their owne syght, and thynke them selues to haue vnderstandyng.²² Wo be vnto them that are strong to suppe out wine, and expert men to set vp drunkennesse.²³ Wo be vnto them that geue sentence with the vngodly for rewardes, but condempne the iust cause of the ryghteous.²⁴ Therfore, lyke as fire licketh vp the strawe, and as the flambe consumeth the stubble: euen so their roote shalbe as corruption, and their blossome shall vanishe away lyke dust: for they haue cast away the lawe of the Lorde of hoastes, and despised the worde of the holy one of Israel.²⁵ Therfore is the wrath of the Lorde kindeled against his people, and hath stretched foorth his hande vpon them, yea he hath smitten them: and the hilles dyd tremble, and their carkases dyd lye torne in the open streetes: and in al this the wrath of God hath not ceassed, but his hande stretched out styll.²⁶ And he shall geue a token to a people of a farre countrey, and shall hisse vnto them from the ende of the earth: and beholde, they shall come hastyly with speede.²⁷ There shall not be one faynt nor feeble among them, no not a sluggishe nor sleepie person: there shall not one of them put of his gyrdle from his loynes, nor loose the latchet of his shoe.²⁸ His arrowes are sharpe, and all his bowes bent: his horse hoofes are as flint, and his cart wheeles like a whyrle winde.²⁹ His crye is as it were of a Lion, and he roreth lyke Lions whelpes: they shall roare and hantche vpon the pray, and no man shall recouer it, nor get it from them.³⁰ In that day he shalbe so fierce vpon him as the raging of the sea: then one shall beholde the lande, and lo darkenesse and sorow, and the light is darkened in the heauens therof.