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.