Day 252 of 730

¹Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

²He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

³"Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

⁵Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.

⁶I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

⁸Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

⁹In my ears, the Lord of hosts says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

¹¹Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

¹²The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the Lord, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

¹⁵So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

¹⁶but the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

¹⁷Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

¹⁹Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

²²Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

²⁴Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the Lord's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

²⁷None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

²⁸whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

³⁰They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

¹In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

²Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

³One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory!"

⁴The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

⁷He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."

⁸I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

⁹He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but do not understand; and you see indeed, but do not perceive.'

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."

¹¹Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,

¹²And the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

¹³If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."

¹Hear my prayer, Lord! Let my cry come to you.

²Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.

³For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a firebrand.

⁴My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.

⁵By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.

⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places.

⁷I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.

⁸My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.

⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,

¹⁰Because of your indignation and your wrath, for you have taken me up, and thrown me away.

¹¹My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.

¹²But you, Lord, will abide forever; your renown endures to all generations.

¹³You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.

¹⁴For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity on her dust.

¹⁵So the nations will fear the name of the Lord; all the kings of the earth your glory.

¹⁶For the Lord has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory.

¹⁷He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.

¹⁸This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise Yah.

¹⁹For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the Lord saw the earth;

²⁰to hear the groans of the prisoner; to free those who are condemned to death;

²¹that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

²²when the peoples are gathered together, the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

²³He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days.

²⁴I said, "My God, do not take me away in the midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.

²⁵Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.

²⁷But you are the same. Your years will have no end.

²⁸The children of your servants will continue. Their seed will be established before you."

¹Listen, sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;

²for I give you sound learning. Do not forsake my law.

³For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

⁴He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

⁵Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

⁷Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

⁸Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

⁹She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you."

¹⁰Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.

¹¹I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

¹²When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter into the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil men.

¹⁵Avoid it, and do not pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they do not sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what they stumble over.

²⁰My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.

²³Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

²⁴Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.

²⁶Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.

²⁷Do not turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.