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¹ Let me sing, I pray you, for a well-beloved of mine, The song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: - A vineyard, had my well-beloved on a very fruitful hill;² And he thoroughly digged it, And gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with a precious vine, And built a tower in the midst thereof, Moreover also a wine-press, hewed he therein, - Then waited he that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes:³ Now, therefore, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, And men of Judah, - Judge, I pray you, betwixt me, and my vineyard: - ⁴ What could have been done further to my vineyard, That I had not done in it? Why then - When I had waited that it should bring forth grapes, Brought it forth, wild grapes?⁵ Now, therefore, I pray you, let me tell, you, what I am about to do to my vineyard, - To take away the fence thereof And it shall be eaten up, To destroy the wall thereof And it shall be trodden down;⁶ And I will make it a waste; - It shall be neither pruned nor hoed, But there shall come up briars and thorns, - And upon the clouds, will I lay a charge, That they rain thereon no rain.⁷ Surely the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts, is the house of Israel, And, the men of Judah, are the plantation in which he dearly delighted, - And he waited, For equity but lo! murderous iniquity, For the rule of right but lo the cry of the wronged.

⁸ Alas for them who join house to house, Field to field, bring they near, - Until there is no room, But ye are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land.⁹ In mine ears, said Yahweh of hosts, - Verily, houses in abundance, shall become, a desolation, Large and fair, without inhabitant;¹⁰ For, ten yokes of vineyard, shall yield one bath, - And the seed of a homer, shall yield an ephah,¹¹ Alas, for them who rise early in the morning that strong drink, they may pursue, - Who follow on in the evening cool until with wine, they are heated;¹² And it cometh to pass - that lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine are in their banquets, - But, the doing of Yahweh, they do not discern, And the work of his hands, have they not seen.¹³ Therefore, are my people taken away captive before they know it, - And their honourable mean are famished with hunger, And, their multitude, do gape for thirst.¹⁴ Therefore, hath hades enlarged her desire, And opened her mouth to its widest, - And their glory, and their multitude and their pomp. and he that is uproarious shall descend thereinto.¹⁵ And the mean man hath been bowed down And the mighty man hath been humbled, - Yea the looks of the haughty shall be humbled.¹⁶ But Yahweh of hosts, hath been exalted, in justice, - And the GOD that is holy hath been hallowed in righteousness;¹⁷ Then shall the young rams feed where they please, - And, the wastes of the wealthy, shall strangers consume.

¹⁸ Alas! for them Who draw on themselves punishment with cords of falsehood, - And as with waggon-bands, penalty:¹⁹ Who say - Let his work quicken - let it hasten, That we may see, - And let the purpose of Israel's Holy One, draw near and come. That we may know!²⁰ Alas! for them Who call evil good and good evil, - Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.²¹ Alas for them Who are wise in their own eyes, - And in their own sight, are prudent.²² Alas for them Who are heroes to drink wine, - And men of valour to mingle strong drink,²³ Who justify the lawless, for a bribe, - Whereas the righteousness of the righteous, they take from him.²⁴ Therefore, As a tongue of fire, eateth up straw, And a flame reduceth, dry grass, to powder, Their root, like rottenness, shall become, And their blossom, like dust shall ascend, - Because they refused the law of Yahweh of hosts, And the utterance of the Holy One of Israel, they despised.²⁵ For this cause, did the anger of Yahweh kindle upon his own people, And he stretched out his hand against them and smote them - So that the mountains, trembled, And, their dead bodies, served, for fuel in the midst of the streets. For all this, hath his anger, not turned back, But still, is his hand outstretched,²⁶ Therefore will he lift up an ensign to the nations afar off, And signal for him from the end of the earth, - And lo! with hot haste, will he come:²⁷ None shall be weary, and none shall stumble in his midst, He shall neither slumber nor sleep, - Nor shall be loosened, the girdle of his loins, Nor snapped, the thong of his sandals:²⁸ Whose arrows, are sharpened, and all his bows, bent, - The hoofs of his horses, like flint, are accounted, And, his wheels, are like a storm-wind:²⁹ A roar, hath he, like a lioness, - He will roar like wild lions - And will growl, and lay hold on prey, and carry into safety, and there be none to deliver.³⁰ Yea he will growl at him in that day, like the growling of the sea, - Though he look hard for the land, lo! the darkness of distress, Yea the light, hath grown dark in its clouds!