I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, When iniquity at my heels compasseth me about?
They that trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
None (of them) can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him;
(For the redemption of their life is costly, And it faileth for ever;)
That he should still live alway, That he should not see corruption.
For he shall see it. Wise men die; The fool and the brutish alike perish, And leave their wealth to others.
Their inward thought is, (that) their houses (shall continue) for ever, (And) their dwelling-places to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.
But man (being) in honor abideth not: He is like the beasts that perish.
This their way is their folly: Yet after them men approve their sayings. (Selah)
They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, That there be no habitation for it.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For he will receive me. (Selah)
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, When the glory of his house is increased.
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.
Though while he lived he blessed his soul (And men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,)
He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see the light.
Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish.
For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; (Lest) mine adversaries rejoice when I am moved.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake.
Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed Be known among the nations in our sight.
Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee: According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death;
And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture Will give thee thanks for ever: We will show forth thy praise to all generations.
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that write perverseness;
to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face.
Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
For they know not to do right, saith Jehovah, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink.
Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?
ye who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every (branch) that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.
Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and (so) shall ye be my disciples.
But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?