American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
Let me sing {Or, of}for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in {Hebrew: a horn, the son of oil.}a very fruitful hill:
and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a {Or, wine-vat}winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be {Or, burnt}eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah {Hebrew: the plant of his delight.}his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, {Or, shedding of blood}oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
In mine ears saith Jehovah of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and {Hebrew: their glory are men of famine.}their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their {Or, tumult}pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend into it.
And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled:
but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall {Or, sorjourners}wanderers eat.
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
that 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 nigh and come, that we may know it!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink;
that justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the {Or, teaching}law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and 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 stretched out still.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for {Hebrew: him.}them from the end of the earth; and, behold, {Hebrew: he (and in the following verses).}they shall come with speed swiftly.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:
their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
And they shall roar {Or, over}against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, {According to the Massorette text, behold, darkness; distress and light; it is dark &c.}behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.
But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation;
to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having {Or, placed in us}committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.
Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
And the Lord's {Greek: bondservant.}servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,
{Some connect the words Faithful is the saying with the preceding paragraph.}Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a {Or, overseer}bishop, he desireth a good work.
Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with {Greek: groaning.}grief: for this were unprofitable for you.
Tend the flock of God which is among you, {Some ancient authorities omit exercising the oversight.}exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, {Some ancient authorities omit according to the will of God.}according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden {Greek: lampstands.}candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven {Greek: lampstands.}candlesticks are seven churches.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
נ NUN.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,And light unto my path.
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding {Greek: the face of his birth.}his natural face in a mirror:
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of {Or, God who liveth Compare Daniel 6:26.}God, which liveth and abideth.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, {Or, bearing the measure of seed}bearing seed for sowing,Shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him; and without him {Or, was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in him; and the life &c.}was not anything made that hath been made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness {Or, overcame See chapter 12:35 (Greek).}apprehended it not.
There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.
{Or, the true light, which lighteth every man, was coming}There was the true light, even the light which lighteth {Or, every man as he cometh}every man, coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto {Greek: his own things}his own, and they that were his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
who were {Greek: begotten}born, not of {Greek: bloods}blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh, and {Greek: tabernacled}dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of {Or, an only begotten from a father Compare Hebrews 11:17}the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.