5. Now, I will let you knowwhat I am going to do to my vineyard:Take away its hedge, give it to grazing,break through its wall, let it be trampled!
6. Yes, I will make it a ruin:it shall not be pruned or hoed,but will be overgrown with thorns and briers;I will command the cloudsnot to rain upon it.
7. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,the people of Judah, his cherished plant;He waited for judgment, but see, bloodshed!for justice, but hark, the outcry!
8. Ah! Those who join house to house,who connect field with field,Until no space remains, and you alone dwellin the midst of the land!
9. In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn:Many houses shall be in ruins,houses large and fine, with nobody living there.
10. Ten acres of vineyardshall yield but one bath,And a homer of seedshall yield but an ephah.
11. Ah! Those who rise early in the morningin pursuit of strong drink,lingering lateinflamed by wine,
12. Banqueting on wine with harp and lyre,timbrel and flute,But the deed of the Lord they do not regard,the work of his hands they do not see!
13. Therefore my people go into exilefor lack of understanding,Its nobles starving,its masses parched with thirst.
14. Therefore Sheol enlarges its throatand opens its mouth beyond measure;Down into it go nobility and masses,tumult and revelry.
15. All shall be abased, each one brought low,and the eyes of the haughty lowered,
16. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted by judgment,by justice the Holy God shown holy.
17. Lambs shall graze as at pasture,young goats shall eat in the ruins of the rich.
18. Ah! Those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity,and at sin as if with cart ropes!
19. Who say, “Let him make haste,let him speed his work, that we may see it;On with the plan of the Holy One of Israel!let it come to pass, that we may know it!”
20. Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil,who change darkness to light, and light into darkness,who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!
21. Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes,prudent in their own view!
22. Ah! Those who are champions at drinking wine,masters at mixing drink!
23. Those who acquit the guilty for bribes,and deprive the innocent of justice!