³ And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and people of Judah,
judge between me
    and my vineyard.^(C)
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
    that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
    why did it yield rotten grapes?^(D)

⁵ And now I will tell you
    what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
    and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
    and it shall be trampled down.^(E)
6 I will make it a wasteland;
    it shall not be pruned or hoed,
    and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
    that they rain no rain upon it.^(F)

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
    is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
    but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
    but heard a cry!^(G)

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
    in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
    to be inflamed by wine,^(K)
12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord
    or see the work of his hands!^(L)
13 Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
    and their multitude is parched with thirst.^(M)

¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
    and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem^[b] and her multitude go down,
    her throng and all who exult in her.^(N)
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
    and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.^(O)
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
    and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.^(P)
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture;
    fatted calves and kids^[c] shall feed among the ruins.

¹⁸ Woe to those who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,
    who drag sin along as with cart ropes,^(Q)
19 who say, “Let him make haste;
    let him speed his work
    that we may see it;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,
    that we may know it!”^(R)
20 Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!^(S)
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and shrewd in their own sight!^(T)
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
    and valiant at mixing drink,^(U)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe
    and deprive the innocent of their rights!^(V)

²⁵ Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
    and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;
    the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
    in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
    and his hand is stretched out still.^(X)

²⁶ He will raise a signal for a nation far away
    and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth.
Here they come, swiftly, speedily!^(Y)
27 None of them is weary; none stumbles;
    none slumbers or sleeps;
not a loincloth is loose;
    not a sandal strap broken;^(Z)
28 their arrows are sharp;
    all their bows strung;
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
    and their wheels like the whirlwind.^(AA)
29 Their roaring is like a lion;
    like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
    they carry it off, and no one can rescue.^(AB)
30 They will roar over it on that day,
    like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land—
    only darkness and distress;
and the light grows dark with its clouds.^(AC)

⁸ “Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
    and I have heard the sound of your words.
⁹ You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression;
    I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.^(E)
10 Look, he finds occasions against me;
    he counts me as his enemy;^(F)
11 he puts my feet in the stocks
    and watches all my paths.’^(G)

¹² “But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
    God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
    saying, ‘He will answer none of my^[b] words’?^(H)
14 For God speaks in one way
    and in two, though people do not perceive it.^(I)
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on mortals,
    while they slumber on their beds,^(J)
16 then he opens their ears
    and terrifies them with warnings,^(K)
17 that he may turn them aside from their deeds
    and keep them from pride,
¹⁸ to spare their souls from the Pit,
    their lives from traversing the River.
¹⁹ They are also chastened with pain upon their beds
    and with continual strife in their bones,^(L)
20 so that their lives loathe bread
    and their appetites dainty food.^(M)
21 Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen,
    and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.^(N)
22 Their souls draw near the Pit
    and their lives to those who bring death.^(O)
23 Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
    a mediator, one of a thousand,
    one who declares a person upright,^(P)
24 and he is gracious to that person and says,
    ‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
    I have found a ransom;^(Q)
25 let his flesh become fresh with youth;
    let him return to the days of his youthful vigor,’^(R)
26 then he prays to God and is accepted by him;
    he comes into his presence with joy,
and God^[c] repays him for his righteousness.^(S)
27     That person sings to others and says,
‘I sinned and perverted what was right,
    and it was not paid back to me.^(T)
28 He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
    and my life shall see the light.’^(U)

²⁹ “God indeed does all these things,
    twice, three times, with mortals,^(V)
30 to bring back their souls from the Pit,
    so that they may see the light of life.^[d](W)
31 Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me;
    speak, for I desire to justify you.
³³ If not, listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”^(X)

“Sleeper, awake!
    Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”^(H)