Isaiah

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

1Let me sing a song for the one I love, a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a hillside with very rich soil.

2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

2He dug up the ground and cleared out the stones. He planted the best vines, built a watchtower in the middle, and cut out a winepress. He waited for good grapes, but the vineyard gave him sour wild ones.

3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.

3So now, people who live in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

4What more could I have done for my vineyard that I did not already do? Why, when I waited for good grapes, did it give me sour ones?

5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

5Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will pull away its hedge, and animals will eat it. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

6I will leave it a ruin. No one will trim it or dig around it, and thorns and weeds will take over. I will order the clouds to drop no rain on it.

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

7The vineyard of the LORD, who commands armies, is the people of Israel. The men of Judah are the plants he was glad to grow. He looked for justice, but saw people hurting each other. He looked for right living, but heard cries for help.

8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

8How terrible for you who buy house after house and field after field, until there is no room left and you live alone in the land.

9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.

9I heard the LORD who commands armies say this: "Many houses will be left empty. Even the big, fine ones will have nobody living in them.

10Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

10Ten acres of grapevines will make only one bath of wine. A whole sack of seed will grow only a tenth of a sack of grain."

NoteA "bath" was about six gallons of liquid, and a "homer" of seed was about ten times an "ephah" of grain. The point is that a huge planting brings in almost nothing.

11Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

11How terrible for those who get up early to chase after strong drink, and stay up late until wine sets them on fire.

12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

12At their parties they have harps and lyres, tambourines, flutes, and wine. But they pay no attention to what the LORD is doing, and never think about the work of his hands.

13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

13So my people will be taken away as prisoners, because they do not understand. Their important men will go hungry, and the crowds will be dry with thirst.

14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

14So the grave has opened its throat wide and stretched its mouth open with no limit. Down go their glory, their crowds, their noise, and everyone having a good time.

NoteThe KJV word "hell" here is the Hebrew word Sheol, meaning the grave, the place of the dead. It is not a picture of punishment after death.

15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

15The ordinary person will be brought down, and the powerful person will be humbled. Proud eyes will be lowered.

NoteIn 1611 English, "the mean man" meant an ordinary or low-ranking person, not a cruel one.

16But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

16But the LORD who commands armies will be lifted high by his justice. The holy God will show that he is holy by doing what is right.

17Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

17Then lambs will graze there as if it were their own pasture. Strangers will feed among the ruins that once belonged to rich men.

18Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

18How terrible for those who drag their sin along behind them with ropes of lies, pulling it like a cart on thick cords.

19That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

19They say, "Let God hurry up and do his work fast, so we can see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we can know what it is."

20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

20How terrible for those who call evil good and good evil, who make darkness into light and light into darkness, who make bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.

21Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

21How terrible for those who think they are wise, and believe they are clever in their own eyes.

22Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

22How terrible for those who are champions at drinking wine, and heroes at mixing strong drink.

23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

23They take money to let guilty people go free, and they cheat innocent people out of fair treatment.

24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

24So, just as fire eats up dry straw and flames burn up dead grass, their roots will rot and their flowers will blow away like dust. This is because they threw away the teaching of the LORD who commands armies, and turned their backs on the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

25So the LORD is angry with his people. He has reached out his hand against them and struck them. The hills shook, and dead bodies lay like trash in the streets. Even after all this, his anger has not cooled, and his hand is still reaching out.

26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

26He will raise a flag to call nations far away. He will whistle for people at the ends of the earth, and look, they come fast and quick.

27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

27Not one of them gets tired or trips. Not one of them dozes off or sleeps. No belt hangs loose, and no sandal strap snaps.

28Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

28Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung. Their horses' hooves are hard as stone, and their chariot wheels spin like a windstorm.

29Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

29Their roar is like a lion's roar; they roar like young lions. They growl, grab their prey, and carry it off, and nobody can rescue it.

30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

30On that day they will roar over the land like the roaring sea. If you look at the land, you will see only darkness and trouble. Even the light will go dark behind the clouds.