Isaiah 5:1-7

New International Reader's Version

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing a song for the Lord.
    He is the one I love.
    It’s a song about his vineyard Israel.
The one I love had a vineyard.
    It was on a hillside that had rich soil.
²He dug up the soil and removed its stones.
    He planted the very best vines in it.
He built a lookout tower there.
    He also cut out a winepress for it.
Then he kept looking for a crop of good grapes.
    But the vineyard produced only bad fruit.

³So the Lord said, “People of Jerusalem and Judah,
    you be the judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴What more could I have done for my vineyard?
    I did everything I could.
I kept looking for a crop of good grapes.
    So why did it produce only bad ones?
⁵Now I will tell you
    what I am going to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its fence.
    And the vineyard will be destroyed.
I will break down its wall.
    And people will walk all over my vineyard.
⁶I will turn my vineyard into a dry and empty desert.
    It will not be pruned or taken care of.
    Thorns and bushes will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain on it.”

⁷The vineyard of the Lord who rules over all
    is the nation of Israel.
The people of Judah
    are the vines he took delight in.
He kept looking for them to do what is fair.
    But all he saw was blood being spilled.
He kept looking for them to do what is right.
    But all he heard were cries of suffering.