5. Now I will tell youwhat 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.
6. I will ruin my field.It will not be trimmed or hoed,and weeds and thorns will grow there.I will command the cloudsnot to rain on it.”
7. The vineyard belonging to the Lord All-Powerfulis the nation of Israel;the garden that he lovesis 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.
8. How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your housesand more fields to your fieldsuntil there is no room left for other people.Then you are left alone in the land.
9. The Lord All-Powerful said this to me:“The fine houses will be destroyed;the large and beautiful houses will be left empty.
10. 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.”
11. How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morningto look for strong drink,who stay awake late at night,becoming drunk with wine.
12. At their parties they have lyres, harps,tambourines, flutes, and wine.They don’t see what the Lord has doneor notice the work of his hands.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. So the common people and the great people will be brought down;those who are proud will be humbled.
16. The Lord All-Powerful will receive glory by judging fairly;the holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
17. Then the sheep will go anywhere they want,and lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.
18. How terrible it will be for those people!They pull their guilt and sins behind themas people pull wagons with ropes.
19. They say, “Let God hurry;let him do his work soonso we may see it.Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soonso that we will know what it is.”