He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.

Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.

None of them grows weary or stumbles;
no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt is loose
and no sandal strap broken.

Many will stumble over these;
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.

On that day
his burden will fall from your shoulders,
and his yoke from your neck.
The yoke will be broken because of fatness.

The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.

Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you is broken.
For a viper will come from the root of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.

When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.
Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

Then the word of the Lord came to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.

The highways are deserted;
travel has ceased.
An agreement has been broken,
cities despised,
and human life disregarded.

Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the foundations laid long ago;
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live.

My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,
but you will cry out from an anguished heart,
and you will lament out of a broken spirit.