1 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.
2 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.
3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
please judge between me and my vineyard.
4 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?
5 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.
6 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."
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who lay field to field, until there is no room,
and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate,
even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink,
who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;
but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,
neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.
Their honorable men are famished,
and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire,
and opened its mouth without measure;
and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
15 So man is brought low,
mankind is humbled,
and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,
and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
and wickedness as with cart rope,
19 who say, "Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,
that we may know it!"
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!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,
and champions at mixing strong drink;
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice for the innocent!
24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust,
because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore Yahweh’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 are as refuse in the middle of the streets.
For all this, his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is still stretched out.
26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away,
and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.
Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
27 No one shall be weary nor stumble among them;
no one shall slumber nor sleep,
neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,
nor the strap of their sandals be broken,
28 whose arrows are sharp,
and all their bows bent.
Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring will be like a lioness.
They will roar like young lions.
Yes, they shall roar,
and seize their prey and carry it off,
and there will be no one to deliver.
30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress.
The light is darkened in its clouds.
1 Laat my tog sing van my Beminde; 'n lied van my Beminde oor sy wingerd! My Beminde het 'n wingerd op 'n vrugbare heuwel.
2 En Hy het dit omgespit en die klippe daar uitgehaal en dit beplant met edel wingerdstokke; en Hy het 'n toring daar binne-in gebou en ook 'n parskuip daarin uitgekap; en Hy het verwag dat dit druiwe sou dra, maar dit het wilde druiwe voortgebring.
3 Nou dan, inwoners van Jerusalem en manne van Juda, oordeel tog tussen My en my wingerd.
4 Wat is daar meer te doen aan my wingerd wat Ek daar nie aan gedoen het nie? Waarom het Ek verwag dat dit druiwe sou dra, en dit het wilde druiwe voortgebring?
5 Laat My julle dan nou te kenne gee wat Ek met my wingerd gaan doen: Ek sal sy doringheining wegneem, sodat dit verwoes word; Ek sal sy muur stukkend breek, sodat dit vertrap word.
6 En Ek sal dit 'n wildernis maak: dit sal nie gesnoei of omgespit word nie, maar opskiet met dorings en distels; en Ek sal die wolke gebied om nie daarop te reën nie.
7 Want die wingerd van die HERE van die leërskare is die huis van Israel, en die manne van Juda is die tuin van sy verlustiging; en Hy het gewag op reg, maar kyk, dit was bloedvergieting; op geregtigheid, maar kyk, dit was geskreeu!
8 Wee hulle wat huis aan huis trek, akker aan akker voeg, totdat daar geen plek meer is nie, en julle alleen grondeienaars in die land is.
9 In my ore het die HERE van die leërskare gespreek: Waarlik, baie huise sal 'n woesteny word, die grotes en mooies sonder inwoner.
10 Want tien morg wingerd sal een enkele bat oplewer, en 'n homer saad sal 'n efa opbring.
11 Wee hulle wat vroeg in die môre klaarmaak om sterk drank na te jaag, wat in die nag l t opbly terwyl die wyn hulle verhit.
12 En daar is siter en harp, tamboeryn en fluit en wyn by hulle maaltyd; maar op die dade van die HERE gee hulle geen ag nie, en die werk van sy hande sien hulle nie.
13 Daarom gaan my volk in ballingskap weens gebrek aan kennis, en hulle aansienlikes word hongerlyers en hulle menigte versmag van dors.
14 Daarom het die doderyk sy keel wyd oopgemaak en sy mond uitgerek sonder maat, en daarin sink hulle adel en hulle menigte en hulle luidrugtigheid en diegene onder hulle wat uitgelate is.
15 Dan word die mens gebuig en die man verneder, en die oë van die hoogmoedige mense word verneder.
16 Maar hoog sal die HERE van die leërskare wees deur die strafgerig, en die heilige God sal Hom as die Heilige laat ken deur geregtigheid.
17 En daar sal lammers wei soos op hulle eie weiveld, en rondtrekkers sal die puinhope van die ryk mense laat afeet.
18 Wee hulle wat die ongeregtigheid nader trek met koorde van goddeloosheid, en die sonde soos met wa-toue;
19 wat sê: Laat Hy gou maak, laat Hy sy werk verhaas, dat ons dit kan sien! En laat die raad van die Heilige van Israel naby wees en kom, dat ons dit kan ken!
20 Wee hulle wat sleg goed noem en goed sleg, wat die duisternis lig maak en die lig duisternis, wat bitter soet maak en soet bitter.
21 Wee hulle wat in eie oë wys en na eie oordeel verstandig is.
22 Wee hulle wat helde is om wyn te drink en wakker manne om sterk drank te meng;
23 wat vir 'n omkoopgeskenk die skuldige regverdig verklaar en die reg van die regverdige hom ontneem.
24 Daarom, soos die vuurtong stoppels verteer en droë gras in die vlam inmekaarsak, so sal hulle wortel soos poeier word en hulle uitspruitsel soos stof opstuiwe; omdat hulle die wet van die HERE van die leërskare verwerp het en die woord van die Heilige van Israel verag het.
25 Daarom het die toorn van die HERE ontvlam teen sy volk en het Hy sy hand teen hulle uitgestrek en hulle swaar getref, sodat die berge gebeef het en hulle lyke soos vuilnis op die strate was. Ondanks dit alles is sy toorn nie afgewend nie, maar is sy hand nog uitgestrek.
26 En Hy sal 'n banier ophef vir die nasies in die verte, en Hy fluit vir die volk daar aan die einde van die aarde; en kyk, gou, haastig kom hulle.
27 Geen vermoeide en geen struikelende is onder hulle nie; hulle sluimer of slaap nie, en die gord van hulle heupe word nie losgemaak nie, en die riem van hulle skoene breek nie;
28 wie se pyle skerp is en al hulle boë gespan; die pote van hulle perde is soos 'n klipsteen en hulle wiele soos 'n stormwind.
29 Hulle gebrul is soos die van 'n leeuin, hulle brul soos jong leeus en maak gedreun en gryp die prooi en sleep weg sonder dat iemand red.
30 En in die dag sal dit oor hulle dreun soos die gedreun van die see. As iemand die aarde aanskou, kyk, daar is angsvolle duisternis; en die lig is verduister deur die wolke.