The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 I want to sing a song for someone I love, a song about my loved one and his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
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Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:
2 He dug up its stones and cleared them away, planted it with the choicest vines, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and carved out in its rock a winepress. He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only sour, wild grapes.
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And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.
3 Now, citizens of Yerushalayim and people of Y'hudah, judge between me and my vineyard.
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And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard that I haven't already done in it? So why, when I expected good grapes, did it produce sour, wild grapes?
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Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?
5 Now come, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and [its grapes] will be eaten up; I will break through its fence, and [its vines] will be trampled down.
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And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;
6 I will let it go to waste: it will be neither pruned nor hoed, but overgrown with briars and thorns. I will also order the clouds not to let rain fall on it.
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And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.
7 Now the vineyard of ADONAI-Tzva'ot is the house of Isra'el, and the men of Y'hudah are the plant he delighted in. So he expected justice, but look - bloodshed! - and righteousness, but listen - cries of distress!
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For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there's no room for anyone else, and you live in splendor alone on your land.
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Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!
9 ADONAI-Tzva'ot said in my ears, "Many houses will be brought to ruin, large, magnificent ones left empty;
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The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.
10 for a ten-acre vineyard will produce only five gallons of wine, and seed from five bushels of grain will yield but half a bushel."
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For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.
11 Woe to those who get up early to pursue intoxicating liquor; who stay up late at night, until wine inflames them.
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Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!
12 They have lutes and lyres, drums and flutes, and wine at their parties; but they pay no attention to how ADONAI works and never look at what his hands have made.
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And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing.
13 For such lack of knowledge my people go into exile; this is also why their respected men starve and their masses are parched from thirst.
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For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.
14 Therefore Sh'ol has enlarged itself and opened its limitless jaws - and down go their nobles and masses, along with their noise and revels.
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For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it.
15 The masses are lowered, the nobles are humbled - proud looks will be brought down.
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And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face, and the eyes of pride are put to shame:
16 But ADONAI-Tzva'ot is exalted through justice, God the Holy One is consecrated through righteousness.
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But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness.
17 Then lambs will be able to feed as if they were in their own pasture, and those wandering through will eat from the ruined fields of the overfed.
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Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.
18 Woe to those who begin by pulling at transgression with a thread, but end by dragging sin along as if with a cart rope.
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Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!
19 They say, "We want God to speed up his work, to hurry it along, so we can see it! We want the Holy One of Isra'el's plan to come true right now, so we can be sure of it!"
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Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us.
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who change darkness into light and light into darkness, who change bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter!
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Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!
21 Woe to those seeing themselves as wise, esteeming themselves as clever.
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Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, men whose power goes to mixing strong drinks,
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Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks!
23 who acquit the guilty for bribes but deny justice to the righteous!
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Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him.
24 Therefore, as fire licks up the stubble, and the chaff is consumed in the flame; so their root will rot, and their flowers scatter like dust; because they have rejected the Torah of ADONAI-Tzva'ot, they have despised the word of the Holy One of Isra'el.
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For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 This is why ADONAI's anger blazed up against his people, why he stretched out his hand against them and struck them [so hard that] the hills shook, and corpses lay like trash in the streets. Even after all this, his anger remains, his upraised hand still threatens.
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For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.
26 He will give a signal to faraway nations, he will whistle for them to come from the ends of the earth; and here they come, so fast!
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And he will let a flag be lifted up as a sign to a far-off nation, whistling to them from the ends of the earth: and they will come quickly and suddenly.
27 none of them tired or stumbling, none of them sleeping or drowsy, none with a loose belt, none with a broken sandal-strap.
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There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung, their horses' hoofs are like flint, and their [chariot] wheels like a whirlwind.
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Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm.
29 They will roar like lions - yes, roaring like young lions, they growl and seize the prey and carry it off, with no one to rescue.
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The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands.
30 On that day they will growl at them, like the sea when it growls - and when one looks toward land, one sees darkness closing in; the light is dissipated in the obscuring overcast.
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And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.