1
I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3
"Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4
What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5
Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6
I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it."
7
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.