V. I Let me, I pray, sing for my beloved a song of my loved one for his vineyard. My beloved bath a vineyard, on a hill-top, the son of oil;

2 And he digged it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the vine of Sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine-fat therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild-grapes.

3 And now, ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and man of Judah, judge, I pray, betwixt me and my vineyard.

4 What is there yet to do 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?

5 And now let me, I pray, tell you what I will do to my vineyard; Ι will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be consumed; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down;

6 And I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned, nor hoed; and there shall come up briers and thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant plant 3 and he looked for judg- ment, and behold oppression; for righteousness, and behold a cry.

6. ‘tabernacle,’ or, ‘booth,’ as i. 8; ‘pavilion,’ Ps. xviii. 11.1. ‘hill-top,’ lit. ‘horn.’2. ‘vine of Sorek’ perhaps=choice vine. Or, ‘hoped,’ ‘waited’ for to bring forth. ‘bring ’ lit. ‘make,’ same word as ‘do,’ ver. 4.5. Lit. ‘for a consuming’ (=burning, iv. 4)... ‘for a treading.’

8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay ﬁeld to ﬁeld, till there is no room, and ye are made to dwell alone in the midst of the earth!

9 In mine ears (said) the LORD of Hosts, If there be not many houses desolate, great ones and fair, without inhabitant!

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

11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late in the dusk, while wine inflames them!

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

13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, for lack of knowledge: and their glory are men of famine, and their abundance dried up with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol hath enlarged her appetite, and opened her mouth without measure: and her honour, and her abundance, and her uproar, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into her.

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

16 And the LORD of Hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy sheweth himself holy in righteousness.

17 Then shall the lambs feed as (in) their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall sojourners eat.

8. ‘earth,’ or, ‘land.’9. ‘If there be not...’ (a threat)=There shall be many... &c10. ‘vield,’ lit. ‘make,’ cf. ver. 2. 4.11. Or, as Greek, ‘wine shall inflame them.13. Lit. ‘his glory,’ abundance.’14. “enlarged her appetite,’ lit. ‘made broad her soul.’ Cf. lvi. 10 So the Greek. Or, ‘and he that rejoiceth in her shall descend.’15. ‘mean ’...‘mighty man,’ Heb. adam ... ish.16. Or, ‘by,’ ‘through judgment.’

18 Woe, they that drag iniquity with cords of vanity, and (their) sin as it were with a cart rope:

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

20 Woe, they 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!