Add parallel Print Page Options

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
    My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
He dug it up,
    gathered out its stones,
    planted it with the choicest vine,
    built a tower in the middle of it,
    and also cut out a wine press in it.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded wild grapes.

“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
    please judge between me and my vineyard.
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
    Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
    I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.
    I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
I will lay it a wasteland.
    It won’t be pruned or hoed,
    but it will grow briers and thorns.
    I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
    and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
    and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;
    for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

Read full chapter

The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard

I will sing for my beloved
    my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
    on a very fertile hill.(A)
He dug it and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
    and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
    but it yielded rotten grapes.(B)

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
    and people of Judah,
judge between me
    and my vineyard.(C)
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)

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)
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)

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)

Read full chapter