5 Let me sing, please, to my dearest one,

a song for my darling about his vineyard.

My dearest had a vineyard on very fertile hillside.[ref]

2 He dug it over and cleared it

and planted it with choice vines.

He built a watchtower in the middle of it

and also hewed a wine-pressing pit in a rocky portion.

Then he waited for it to produce grapes,

but it produced sour, wild grapes.

3 So now, you who lives in Yerushalem (Jerusalem)

≈ and man from Yehudah (Judah),

judge, please, between me and between my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard,

that I haven’t already done for it?

I waited for it to produce grapes,

but why did it produce wild grapes?

5 So now, listen please,

because I’ll tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard:

I’ll remove the hedge around it and burn it in a fire.

I’ll tear its wall down so people can trample over it.

6 Then I’ll allow it to become overgrown.

It won’t be pruned or hoed, and thistles and thorns will grow through it.

Then I’ll command the clouds not to rain on it any more.

7 Yes, Commander-in-chief Yahweh’s vineyard is Yisrael (Israel),

and the people from Yehudah (Judah) are his nice plants.

Then he waited for justice, but look, slaughter came.

≈ He waited for people to do what’s right, but listen, screaming came.