Isaiah 5:1-17

Now I will sing for my friend a song about his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a hill with very rich soil. He dug and cleared the field of stones and planted the best grapevines there. He built a tower in the middle of it and cut out a winepress as well. He hoped good grapes would grow there, but only bad ones grew. My friend says, “You people living in Jerusalem, and you people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could I have done for my vineyard than I have already done? Although I expected good grapes to grow, why were there only bad ones? Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will remove the hedge, and it will be burned. I will break down the stone wall, and it will be walked on. I will ruin my field. It will not be trimmed or hoed, and weeds and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” The vineyard belonging to the LORD All-Powerful is the nation of Israel; the garden that he loves is the people of Judah. He looked for justice, but there was only killing. He hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain. How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses and more fields to your fields until there is no room left for other people. Then you are left alone in the land. The LORD All-Powerful said this to me: “The fine houses will be destroyed; the large and beautiful houses will be left empty. At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine, and ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.” How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning to look for strong drink, who stay awake late at night, becoming drunk with wine. At their parties they have lyres, harps, tambourines, flutes, and wine. They don’t see what the LORD has done or notice the work of his hands. So my people will be captured and taken away, because they don’t really know me. All the great people will die of hunger, and the common people will die of thirst. So the place of the dead wants more and more people, and it opens wide its mouth. Jerusalem’s important people and common people will go down into it, with their happy and noisy ones. So the common people and the great people will be brought down; those who are proud will be humbled. The LORD All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly; the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right. Then the sheep will go anywhere they want, and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.