The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had va vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with wchoice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and xhe looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove zits hedge,
and it shall be devoured;1
aI will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and bbriers and thorns shall grow up;
cI will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;2
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!3
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who ejoin house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
11 Woe to those who irise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 jThey have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
their mhonored men go hungry,7
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has nenlarged its appetite
and opened oits mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem8 and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who pexults in her.
15 qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty9 are brought low.
16 rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted10 in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze sas in their pasture,
and tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with ucords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: v“Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to wthose who call evil good
and good evil,
xwho put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are ywise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are zheroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who aacquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so ctheir root will be das rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and hthe mountains quaked;
and their corpses were ias refuse
in the midst of the streets.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will kraise a signal for nations far away,
and lwhistle for them mfrom the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 nNone is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 otheir arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels plike the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and qseize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, rdarkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord
1 In the year that sKing Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train11 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had usix wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
4 And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! yFor I am lost; zfor 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 aKing, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he btouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
d“‘Keep on hearing,13 but do not understand;
keep on seeing,14 but do not perceive.’
10 eMake the heart of this people fdull,15
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
glest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, h“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until icities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 jAnd though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned16 again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump kremains
when it is felled.”
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1 And when he returned to tCapernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 uAnd they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, vthey removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus wsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, xyour sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? yHe is blaspheming! zWho can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, aperceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that bthe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and cglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi
13 He went out again beside the sea, and dall the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 eAnd as he passed by, he saw fLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many gtax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And hthe scribes of1 the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, g“Why does he eat2 with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. iI came not to call the righteous, jbut sinners.”
A Question About Fasting
18 Now kJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, l“Why do John’s disciples and mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, n“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and pthen they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old qwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”3
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 rOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples sbegan to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, twhy are they doing uwhat is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, v“Have you never read wwhat David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of4 xAbiathar the high priest, and ate ythe bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, z“The Sabbath was made for man, anot man for the Sabbath. 28 So bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”