Isaiah 5:1-7

New International Version

The Song of the Vineyard

5 I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:^(A)
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
²He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.^(B)
He built a watchtower^(C) in it
    and cut out a winepress^(D) as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.^(E)

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.^(F)
⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard
    than I have done for it?^(G)
When I looked for good grapes,
    why did it yield only bad?^(H)
⁵Now 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)
I will break down its wall,^(J)
    and it will be trampled.^(K)
⁶I will make it a wasteland,^(L)
    neither pruned nor cultivated,
    and briers and thorns^(M) will grow there.
I will command the clouds
    not to rain^(N) on it.”

⁷The vineyard^(O) of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,^(P) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,^(Q) but heard cries of distress.^(R)

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Ezekiel 15:1-6

New International Version

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

15 The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine^(A) different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? ³Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful?^(B) Do they make pegs^(C) from it to hang things on? ⁴And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything?^(D) ⁵If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

⁶“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem.

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