_Closing Words of the First Cycle of Prophecies._
1. Arise, I will sing of my beloved, a song of my dearest touching
His vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a flatly-nourished mountain-horn, 2. and
dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with noble vines,
and built a tower in it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and
hoped that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild
grapes.
3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I
pray you, between Me and My vineyard! 4. What could have been done
more to My vineyard that I have not done in it! Wherefore did I hope
that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes?[1]
5. Now then, I will tell you what I will do at once to My vineyard:
Take away its hedges, and it shall be for grazing; pull down its
wall, and it shall be for treading down; 6. and I will put an end to
it: it shall not be pruned nor dragged, and it shall break out in
thorns and thistles, and I will command the clouds to rain no rain
over it. 7. For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of
Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of His delight: He
waited for justice, and behold, grasping; for righteousness, and
behold, a shriek!
8. Woe unto them that join house to house, who lay field to field,
till there is no more room, and ye alone are dwelling in the midst of
the land. 9. Into mine ears, Jehovah of hosts: Of a truth many houses
shall become a wilderness, great and beautiful ones deserted. 10. For
ten yokes of vineyard will yield one pailful, and a quarter of
seed-corn will produce a bushel.
11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to run after
strong drink: who continue till late at night with wine inflaming
them! 12. And guitar and harp, kettle-drum, and flute, and wine is in
their feast; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, and see not the
purpose of His hands.
13. Therefore My people go into banishment without knowing; and their
glory will become starving men, and their tumult men dried up with
thirst. 14. Therefore the under-world opens its jaws wide, and
stretches open its mouth immeasurably wide; and the glory of
Jerusalem descends, and its tumult, and noise, and those who rejoice
within it. 15. Then are mean men bowed down, and lords humbled, and
the eyes of lofty men are humbled. 16. And Jehovah of hosts shows
Himself exalted in judgment, and God the Holy One sanctifies Himself
in righteousness; 17. and lambs feed as upon their pasture, and nomad
shepherds eat the waste places of the fat ones.[2]
18. Woe unto them that draw crime with cords of lying, and sin as
with the rope of the waggon; 19. who say, Let Him hasten, accelerate
His work, that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of
Israel draw near and come, that we may experience it.
20. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who give out
darkness for light, and light for darkness; who give out bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter.
21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in
their own sight.
22. Woe unto those who are heroes to drink wine, and brave men to
mingle strong drink; 23. who acquit criminals for a bribe, and take
away from every one the righteousness of the righteous.
24. Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and hay sinks
together in the flame, their root will become like mould, and their
blossom fly up like dust; for they have despised the law of Jehovah
of hosts, and scornfully rejected the proclamation of the Holy One of
Israel. 25. Therefore is the wrath of Jehovah kindled against His
people, and He stretches His hand over them, and sites them; then the
hills tremble, and their carcass become like sweepings in the midst
of the streets.
For all this His anger is not appeased, and His hand is stretched out
still, 26. and lifts up a banner to the distant nations, and hisses
to it from the end of the earth; and, behold, it comes with haste
swiftly. 27. There is none exhausted, and none stumbling among them:
it gives itself no slumber, and no sleep; and to none is the girdle
of his hips loosed; and to none is the lace of his shoes broken;
28. he whose arrows are sharpened, and all his bows strung; the hoofs
of his horses are counted like flint, and his wheels like the
whirlwind. 29. Roaring issues from it as from the lioness: it roars
like lions, and utters a low murmur; seizes the prey, carries it off,
and no one rescues. 30. And it utters a deep roar over it in that day
like the roaring of the sea: and it looks to the earth, and behold
darkness, tribulation, and light; it becomes night over it in the
clouds of heaven.[3]