Old/New Testament
The Song About the Lord’s Vineyard
5
Let me sing for my loved one a song about my loved one’s vineyard.
My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile ridge.[a]
2 He dug it up[b] and gathered the stones out of it.
He planted it with the best vines.
He built a tower in the middle of it.
He also cut a winepress into it.
He expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes,
but it produced only sour grapes.
3 So now, you residents of Jerusalem and you men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
that I have not already done for it?
When I expected it to produce clusters of sweet grapes,
why did it produce sour grapes?
5 Now, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it will become a pasture.
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6 I will make it a wasteland.
It will not be pruned or hoed.
So briers and thorns will shoot up.
I will also command the clouds not to pour rain on it.
7 Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah are the planting that was pleasing to him.
He expected justice, but instead there was oppression.
He expected righteousness, but there was an outcry.
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to you[c] who join house to house,
who connect field to field, until there is no room left,
except room for you alone to live in the middle of the land!
9 The Lord of Armies announces this in my hearing:
I swear that many houses will be deserted.
Even the large and beautiful houses will be unoccupied.
10 Then ten acres[d] of vineyard will yield only six gallons[e] of wine,
and six bushels[f] of seed will yield less than a bushel.[g]
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to chase after beer,[h]
who stay up late into the night until wine inflames them.
12 Harp, lyre, drum, flute, and wine are at their drinking parties,
but they have no regard for the work of the Lord,
nor have they paid attention to what his hands are doing.
13 This is why my people go into captivity—lack of knowledge.
Their dignitaries starve to death,
and the whole crowd is parched with thirst.
14 That is why the grave has increased its appetite,
and its mouth is wide open.
Their[i] splendor and their noisy crowds, their loud revelry,
and their celebration will go down into the grave.
15 So mankind is humbled,
man is brought low,
and the eyes of the arrogant are brought low,
16 but the Lord of Armies is exalted by justice,
and God, the Holy One, reveals his holiness by righteousness.
17 Then lambs will graze there as their pasture,
and aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.[j]
18 Woe to those who drag their guilt behind them with cords of lies
and their wickedness with cart ropes.
19 They say, “Let him hurry, let him speed up his work,
so that we may see it,
and let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near.
Let it come, so that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are champions at drinking wine
and heroes at mixing drinks,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
24 Therefore, as the flames of a fire devour stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down into the flames,
in the same way their roots will rot,
and their blossoms will dry up like dust,
because they have rejected the law[k] of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the Lord’s anger burns against his people,
and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them.
The mountains tremble,
and their dead bodies will lie like garbage in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
26 He will raise a signal flag for the nations from far away,
and he will whistle for them to come from the end of the earth.
Watch, they will come quickly and swiftly.
27 No one among them will be weary or stumble.
No one will slumber or sleep.
The belt around their waist will not be unbuckled.
The straps of their sandals will not be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar will sound like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they will growl.
They will seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to rescue anyone from them.
30 In that day the roar against them will be like the roaring of the sea.
If anyone looks at the land, he sees only darkness and distress.
The light is darkened by clouds.
Isaiah’s Call and Mission
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two they covered their faces. With two they covered their feet. With two they flew. 3 One called to another and said,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “I am doomed![l] I am ruined, because I am a man with unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with the coal and said, “Look, this has touched your lips, so your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said:
Go! You are to tell this people,
“Keep listening, but you will never understand.
Keep looking, but you will never get it.”
10 Make the heart of this people calloused.[m]
Make their ears deaf[n] and blind their eyes,
so that they do not see with their eyes,
or hear with their ears,
or understand with their hearts,
and turn again and be healed.
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
He answered:
Until the cities are a wasteland without a single inhabitant,
until the houses are totally deserted,
and the farmland is completely devastated,
12 until the Lord has removed the people far away,
and the abandoned places within the land are many.
13 If there is only a tenth left in it, that too will be burned in its turn.
Like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains when it is cut down,
so the holy seed is its stump.[o]
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, who are believers in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
4 He did this when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. He did this in accordance with the good purpose of his will, 6 and for the praise of his glorious grace, which he has graciously given us in the one he loves.
7 In him we also have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in keeping with the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will in keeping with his good purpose, which he planned in Christ. 10 This was to be carried out when the time had fully come, in order to bring all things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have also obtained an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in keeping with the purpose of his will. 12 He did this so that his glory would be praised as a result of us, who were the first to hope in Christ.
13 In him, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and in him, when you also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 14 He is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own possession, so that his glory would be praised.
A Prayer for Knowledge and Strength
15 This is why, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation in knowing Christ fully. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, just how rich his glorious inheritance among the saints is, 19 and just how surpassingly great his power is for us who believe. 20 It is as great as the working of his mighty strength, which God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, and above every name that is given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church. 23 The church is his body, the fullness of him[b] who fills everything in every way.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.