The Song of the Vineyard

I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.(B)
He built a watchtower(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.(E)

“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.(F)
What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?(H)
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)
I will break down its wall,(J)
    and it will be trampled.(K)
I will make it a wasteland,(L)
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain(N) on it.”

The vineyard(O) 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,(P) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,(Q) but heard cries of distress.(R)

Woes and Judgments

Woe(S) to you who add house to house
    and join field to field(T)
till no space is left
    and you live alone in the land.

The Lord Almighty(U) has declared in my hearing:(V)

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,(W)
    the fine mansions left without occupants.
10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath[a] of wine;
    a homer[b] of seed will yield only an ephah[c] of grain.”(X)

11 Woe(Y) to those who rise early in the morning
    to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night
    till they are inflamed with wine.(Z)
12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
    pipes(AA) and timbrels(AB) and wine,
but they have no regard(AC) for the deeds of the Lord,
    no respect for the work of his hands.(AD)
13 Therefore my people will go into exile(AE)
    for lack of understanding;(AF)
those of high rank(AG) will die of hunger
    and the common people will be parched with thirst.(AH)
14 Therefore Death(AI) expands its jaws,
    opening wide its mouth;(AJ)
into it will descend their nobles and masses
    with all their brawlers and revelers.(AK)
15 So people will be brought low(AL)
    and everyone humbled,(AM)
    the eyes of the arrogant(AN) humbled.
16 But the Lord Almighty will be exalted(AO) by his justice,(AP)
    and the holy God will be proved holy(AQ) by his righteous acts.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 5:10 That is, about 6 gallons or about 22 liters
  2. Isaiah 5:10 That is, probably about 360 pounds or about 160 kilograms
  3. Isaiah 5:10 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms

The Branch From Jesse

11 A shoot(A) will come up from the stump(B) of Jesse;(C)
    from his roots a Branch(D) will bear fruit.(E)
The Spirit(F) of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom(G) and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,(H)
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord
and he will delight in the fear(I) of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,(J)
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;(K)
but with righteousness(L) he will judge the needy,(M)
    with justice(N) he will give decisions for the poor(O) of the earth.
He will strike(P) the earth with the rod of his mouth;(Q)
    with the breath(R) of his lips he will slay the wicked.(S)
Righteousness will be his belt(T)
    and faithfulness(U) the sash around his waist.(V)

The wolf will live with the lamb,(W)
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
    and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.(X)
The infant(Y) will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s(Z) nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy(AA)
    on all my holy mountain,(AB)
for the earth(AC) will be filled with the knowledge(AD) of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day(AE) the Root of Jesse(AF) will stand as a banner(AG) for the peoples; the nations(AH) will rally to him,(AI) and his resting place(AJ) will be glorious.(AK)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 11:6 Hebrew; Septuagint lion will feed

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[a](A)

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[b] will mourn(B) when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,(C) with power and great glory.[c] 31 And he will send his angels(D) with a loud trumpet call,(E) and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[d] is near, right at the door.(F) 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.(G) 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.(H)

The Day and Hour Unknown(I)(J)

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[e] but only the Father.(K) 37 As it was in the days of Noah,(L) so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,(M) up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.(N) 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.(O) 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.(P)

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.(Q) 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming,(R) he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready,(S) because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,(T) whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.(U) 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.(V) 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.(W) 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.(X)

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4
  2. Matthew 24:30 Or the tribes of the land
  3. Matthew 24:30 See Daniel 7:13-14.
  4. Matthew 24:33 Or he
  5. Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have nor the Son.

To the Church in Thyatira

18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira(A) write:

These are the words of the Son of God,(B) whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.(C) 19 I know your deeds,(D) your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel,(E) who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.(F) 21 I have given her time(G) to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.(H) 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery(I) with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds,(J) and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.(K)

24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you,(L) 25 except to hold on to what you have(M) until I come.’(N)

26 To the one who is victorious(O) and does my will to the end,(P) I will give authority over the nations(Q) 27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter(R) and will dash them to pieces like pottery’[a](S)—just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give that one the morning star.(T) 29 Whoever has ears, let them hear(U) what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the Church in Sardis

“To the angel[b] of the church in Sardis(V) write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[c](W) of God and the seven stars.(X) I know your deeds;(Y) you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.(Z) Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.(AA) But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief,(AB) and you will not know at what time(AC) I will come to you.

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.(AD) They will walk with me, dressed in white,(AE) for they are worthy. The one who is victorious(AF) will, like them, be dressed in white.(AG) I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life,(AH) but will acknowledge that name before my Father(AI) and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear(AJ) what the Spirit says to the churches.

Footnotes

  1. Revelation 2:27 Psalm 2:9
  2. Revelation 3:1 Or messenger; also in verses 7 and 14
  3. Revelation 3:1 That is, the sevenfold Spirit

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