Read the Bible

Parable of the Vineyard

¹ Let me sing now for my well-beloved
A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.
My well-beloved had a ^(C1)vineyard on ^(F1)a fertile hill.

² He dug it all around, removed its stones,
And planted it with ^(F1)the ^(C1)choicest vine.
And He built a tower in the middle of it
And also hewed out a ^(F2)wine vat in it;
Then He ^(C2)expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only ^(F3)worthless ones.

³ "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
^(C1)Judge between Me and My vineyard.

⁴ "^(C1)What more was there to do for My vineyard ^(F1)that I have not done in it?
Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce ^(F2)worthless ones?

⁵ "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will ^(C1)remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
I will ^(C2)break down its wall and it will become ^(C3)trampled ground.

⁶ "I will ^(C1)lay it waste;
It will not be pruned or hoed,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also charge the clouds to ^(C2)rain no rain on it."

⁷ For the ^(C1)vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel
And the men of Judah His delightful plant.
Thus He looked for justice, but behold, ^(C2)bloodshed;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

Woes for the Wicked

⁸ Woe to those who ^(C1)add house to house and join field to field,
Until there is no more room,
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

⁹ In my ears the LORD of hosts has sworn, "Surely, ^(C1)many houses shall become ^(C2)desolate,
Even great and fine ones, without occupants.

¹⁰ "For ^(C1)ten acres of vineyard will yield only one ^(F1)bath of wine,
And a ^(C2)homer of seed will yield but an ^(F2)ephah of grain."

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue ^(C1)strong drink,
Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

¹² Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and ^(C1)harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;
But they ^(C2)do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD,
Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

¹³ Therefore My people go into exile for their ^(C1)lack of knowledge;
And ^(F1)their ^(C2)honorable men are famished,
And their multitude is parched with thirst.

¹⁴ Therefore ^(C1)Sheol has enlarged its ^(F1)throat and opened its mouth without measure;
And ^(F2)Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.

¹⁵ So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,
^(C1)The eyes of the proud also will be abased.

¹⁶ But the ^(C1)LORD of hosts will be ^(C2)exalted in judgment,
And the holy God will show Himself ^(C3)holy in righteousness.

^17 (C1)Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
And strangers will eat in the waste places of the ^(F1)wealthy.

¹⁸ Woe to those who drag ^(C1)iniquity with the cords of ^(F1)falsehood,
And sin as if with cart ropes;

^19 (C1)Who say, "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;
And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near
And come to pass, that we may know it!"

²⁰ Woe to those who ^(C1)call evil good, and good evil;
Who ^(F1)(C2)substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who ^(F1)substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Woe to those who are ^(C1)wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight!

^22 (C1)Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

^23 (C1)Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And ^(C2)take away the ^(F1)rights of the ones who are in the right!

²⁴ Therefore, ^(C1)as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
And dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their ^(C2)root will become ^(C3)like rot and their blossom ^(F1)blow away as dust;
For they have ^(C4)rejected the law of the LORD of hosts
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ On this account the ^(C1)anger of the LORD has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.
And the ^(C2)mountains quaked, and their ^(C3)corpses ^(F1)lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.
^(C4)For all this His anger ^(F2)is not spent,
But His ^(C5)hand is still stretched out.

²⁶ He will also lift up a ^(C1)standard to the ^(F1)distant nation,
And will ^(C2)whistle for it ^(C3)from the ends of the earth;
And behold, it will ^(C4)come with speed swiftly.

^27 (C1)No one in it is weary or stumbles,
None slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the ^(C2)belt at its waist undone,
Nor its sandal strap broken.

^28 (F1)(C1)Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
The hoofs of its horses ^(F2)seem like flint and its chariot ^(C2)wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹ Its ^(C1)roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it ^(C2)seizes the prey
And carries it off with ^(C3)no one to deliver it.

³⁰ And it will ^(C1)growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one ^(C2)looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light is darkened by its clouds.