| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Now I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. | 1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. |
| 2He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter. | 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! |
| 3Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you judge between me and my vineyard. | 3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. |
| 4What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes? | 4What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? |
| 5Now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. | 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 wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it. | 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.” |
| 7The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence. Judah’s Guilt and Judgment | 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. |
| 8What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land. | 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. |
| 9But I have heard the LORD of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty. | 9I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. |
| 10Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.” | 10For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.” |
| 11What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. | 11Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. |
| 12They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the LORD or notice what he is doing. | 12At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. |
| 13So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst. | 13Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. |
| 14The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up. | 14Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! |
| 15Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation. | 15So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. |
| 16But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness. | 16But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. |
| 17In that day lambs will find good pastures, and fattened sheep and young goats will feed among the ruins. | 17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. |
| 18What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! | 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, |
| 19They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is.” | 19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” |
| 20What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. | 20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. |
| 21What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. | 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. |
| 22What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. | 22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer, |
| 23They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent. | 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice. |
| 24Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. | 24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. |
| 25That is why the LORD’s anger burns against his people, and why he has raised his fist to crush them. The mountains tremble, and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage. But even then the LORD’s anger is not satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike! | 25Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised. |
| 26He will send a signal to distant nations far away and whistle to those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward Jerusalem. | 26He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come! |
| 27They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loose, not a sandal strap broken. | 27None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken. |
| 28Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses’ hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind. | 28Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. |
| 29They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them. | 29Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance. |
| 30They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds. | 30In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds. |
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