1 (NIV) I will sing for the
one I love a song about his vine-yard: My loved
one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the
choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a wine-press as well. Then he looked
for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of
Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4
What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it? When I looked for good
grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will
take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall, and it will be
trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow
there. I will command the clouds not to rain
on it.