ISAIAH 5

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Parable of the Vineyard5:1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved

A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.

My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

2 He dug it all around, removed its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

And He built a tower in the middle of it

And also hewed out a wine vat in it;

Then He expected it to produce good grapes,

But it produced only worthless ones.

3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

Judge between Me and My vineyard.

4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?

Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?

5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:

I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;

I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.

6 “I will lay it waste;

It will not be pruned or hoed,

But briars and thorns will come up.

I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel

And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

Woes for the Wicked8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,

Until there is no more room,

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

9 In my ears the LORD of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate,

Even great and fine ones, without occupants.

10 “For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine,

And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,

Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

12 Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;

But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD,

Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

13 Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;

And their honorable men are famished,

And their multitude is parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;

And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.

15 So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,

The eyes of the proud also will be abased.

16 But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment,

And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

18 Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood,

And sin as if with cart ropes;

19 Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;

And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near

And come to pass, that we may know it!”

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;

Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

And clever in their own sight!

22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe,

And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!

24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble

And dry grass collapses into the flame,

So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;

For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts

And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people,

And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down.

And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this His anger is not spent,

But His hand is still stretched out.

26 He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,

And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;

And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

27 No one in it is weary or stumbles,

None slumbers or sleeps;

Nor is the belt at its waist undone,

Nor its sandal strap broken.

28 Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;

The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

29 Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;

It growls as it seizes the prey

And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

30 And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;

Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

PSALM 55

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Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
55:1 Give ear to my prayer, O God;

And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.

2 Give heed to me and answer me;

I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted,

3 Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the pressure of the wicked;

For they bring down trouble upon me

And in anger they bear a grudge against me.

4 My heart is in anguish within me,

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and trembling come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

7 “Behold, I would wander far away,

I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah.

8 “I would hasten to my place of refuge

From the stormy wind and tempest.”

9 Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues,

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around her upon her walls,

And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.

11 Destruction is in her midst;

Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.

12 For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,

Then I could bear it;

Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,

Then I could hide myself from him.

13 But it is you, a man my equal,

My companion and my familiar friend;

14 We who had sweet fellowship together

Walked in the house of God in the throng.

15 Let death come deceitfully upon them;

Let them go down alive to Sheol,

For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

16 As for me, I shall call upon God,

And the LORD will save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur,

And He will hear my voice.

18 He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,

For they are many who strive with me.

19 God will hear and answer them--

Even the one who sits enthroned from of old-- Selah.

With whom there is no change,

And who do not fear God.

20 He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;

He has violated his covenant.

21 His speech was smoother than butter,

But his heart was war;

His words were softer than oil,

Yet they were drawn swords.

22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you;

He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

23 But You, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction;

Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days.

But I will trust in You.

PROVERBS 13

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked13:1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline,

But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

2 From the fruit of a man’s mouth he enjoys good,

But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

3 The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;

The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

But the soul of the diligent is made fat.

5 A righteous man hates falsehood,

But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully.

6 Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless,

But wickedness subverts the sinner.

7 There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing;

Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

8 The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth,

But the poor hears no rebuke.

9 The light of the righteous rejoices,

But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

10 Through insolence comes nothing but strife,

But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

11 Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles,

But the one who gathers by labor increases it.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

13 The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,

But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

To turn aside from the snares of death.

15 Good understanding produces favor,

But the way of the treacherous is hard.

16 Every prudent man acts with knowledge,

But a fool displays folly.

17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity,

But a faithful envoy brings healing.

18 Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline,

But he who regards reproof will be honored.

19 Desire realized is sweet to the soul,

But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

21 Adversity pursues sinners,

But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

23 Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor,

But it is swept away by injustice.

24 He who withholds his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

25 The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

But the stomach of the wicked is in need.