51 Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill: 2 And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes. 3 And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden. 4 Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes? 5 And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it; 6 And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it. 7 For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
8 Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! 9 The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. 10 For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain. 11 Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine! 12 And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing. 13 For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water. 14 For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it. 15 And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face, and the eyes of pride are put to shame: 16 But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness. 17 Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.
18 Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin! 19 Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us. 20 Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter! 21 Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge! 22 Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks! 23 Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him. 24 For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town. 26 And he will let a flag be lifted up as a sign to a far-off nation, whistling to them from the ends of the earth: and they will come quickly and suddenly. 27 There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken. 28 Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm. 29 The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands. 30 And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.
61 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord seated in his place, high and lifted up, and the Temple was full of the wide skirts of his robe. 2 Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight. 3 And one said in a loud voice to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of armies: all the earth is full of his glory. 4 And the bases of the door-pillars were shaking at the sound of his cry, and the house was full of smoke.
5 Then I said, The curse is on me, and my fate is destruction; for I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies. 6 Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon. 7 And after touching my mouth with it, he said, See, your lips have been touched with this; and your evil is taken away, and you are made clean from sin. 8 And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.
9 And he said, Go, and say to this people, You will go on hearing, but learning nothing; you will go on seeing, but without getting wiser. 10 Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well. 11 Then I said, Lord, how long? And he said in answer, Till the towns are waste and unpeopled, and the houses have no men, and the land becomes completely waste, 12 And the Lord has taken men far away, and there are wide waste places in the land. 13 And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).
11 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the purpose of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and those who have faith in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us every blessing of the Spirit in the heavens in Christ: 4 Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love: 5 As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One: 7 In whom we have salvation through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, through the wealth of his grace, 8 Which he gave us in full measure in all wisdom and care; 9 Having made clear to us the secret of his purpose, in agreement with the design which he had in mind, to put into his hands 10 The ordering of the times when they are complete, so that all things might come to a head in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on the earth; in him, I say, 11 In whom we have a heritage, being marked out from the first in his purpose who does all things in agreement with his designs; 12 So that his glory might have praise through us who first had hope in Christ: 13 In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope, 14 Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.
15 For this cause I, having had news of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which you make clear to all the saints, 16 Give praise without end for you, keeping you in mind in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 And that having the eyes of your heart full of light, you may have knowledge of what is the hope of his purpose, what is the wealth of the glory of his heritage in the saints, 19 And how unlimited is his power to us who have faith, as is seen in the working of the strength of his power, 20 By which he made Christ come back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven, 21 Far over all rule and authority and power and every name which is named, not only in the present order, but in that which is to come: 22 And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him to be head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the full measure of him in whom all things are made complete.
