Study Desk

I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one's vineyard:^(a) The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines.^(b) He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected^(c) it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.^(d)

So now, residents of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard.

What more could I have done for My vineyard than I did?^(e) Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge,^(f) and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall,^(g) and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland.^(h) It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up.⁽ⁱ⁾ I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel,^(j) and the men^[a] of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness.

Woe to those who add house to house^(k) and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.

I heard the Lord of Hosts say: Indeed, many houses^(l) will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.

For a ten-acre^[b] vineyard will yield only six gallons,^[c] and 10 bushels^[d] of seed will yield only one bushel.^[e]

Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer,^(m) who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.

At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the Lord 's actions,⁽ⁿ⁾ and they do not see the work of His hands.^(o)

Therefore My people will go into exile because they lack knowledge;^(p) her^[f] dignitaries are starving, and her^[g] masses are parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws,^(q) and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!

Humanity is brought low, man is humbled, and haughty eyes are humbled.^(r)

But the Lord of Hosts is exalted by His justice,^(s) and the holy God^(t) is distinguished by righteousness.^(u)

Lambs will graze as if in^[h] their own pastures,^(v) and strangers^[i] will eat among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit^(w) and pull sin along with cart ropes,

to those who say: "Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan^(x) of the Holy One of Israel^(y) take place so that we can know it!"

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,^(z) who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own opinion and clever in their own sight.^[j](aa)

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are fearless at mixing beer,^(ab)

who acquit the guilty for a bribe^(ac) and deprive the innocent of justice.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected^(ad) the instruction of the Lord of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.^(ae)

Therefore the Lord 's anger burns^(af) against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked,^(ag) and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised to strike.^(ah)

He raises a signal flag for the distant nations^(ai) and whistles^(aj) for them from the ends of the earth. Look—how quickly and swiftly they come!

None of them grows weary or stumbles;^(ak) no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap broken.

Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses' hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion's;^(al) they roar like young lions;^(am) they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.^[k]

In the year that King Uzziah^(a) died, I saw the Lord^(b) seated on a high and lofty^(c) throne,^(d) and His robe^[a] filled the temple.

Seraphim^[b] were standing above Him; each one had six wings:^(e) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.^(f)

And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory^(g) fills the whole earth.^(h)

The foundations of the doorways shook⁽ⁱ⁾ at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said: Woe is me^(j) for I am ruined^[c] because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips,^(k) and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar^(l) with tongs.

He touched my mouth^(m) with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is atoned for.⁽ⁿ⁾

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand;^(o) keep looking, but do not perceive.

Dull the minds^[d] of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.^(p)

Then I said, "Until when, Lord?"^(q) And He replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,^(r) houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,

and the Lord drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land.

Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed^(s) is the stump.^(t)