Isaiah 5:1–10

¹I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it up and cleared the stones

and planted the finest vines.

He built a watchtower in the middle

and dug out a winepress as well.

He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes,

but the fruit it produced was sour!

³“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

I exhort you to judge

between Me and My vineyard.

⁴What more could have been done for My vineyard

than I have done for it?

Why, when I expected sweet grapes,

did it bring forth sour fruit?

⁵Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be consumed;

I will tear down its wall,

and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland,

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and thorns and briers will grow up.

I will command the clouds

that rain shall not fall on it.”

⁷For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are the plant of His delight.

He looked for justice,

but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but heard a cry of distress.

⁸Woe to you who add house to house

and join field to field

until no place is left

and you live alone in the land.

⁹I heard the LORD of Hosts declare:

“Surely many houses will become desolate,

great mansions left unoccupied.

¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard

will yield but a bath of wine,^a

and a homer of seed

only an ephah of grain.^b”