“Let me sing
For my beloved.
My love song
Concerns his vineyard.
My beloved had
A vineyard
On a very fertile hill.
He dug it out.
He cleared it of stones.
He planted it
With choice vines.
He built a watchtower
In the midst of it.
He hewed out
A wine vat in it.
He expected it
To yield grapes.
But it yielded wild grapes.”
The allegory about a vineyard can be found among many other biblical prophets and even Jesus Christ himself. Either this was at the beginning of Isaiah’s prophetic career, or it was part of the festival of booths. Certainly it was a song about a friend’s vineyard, a common biblical theme. Isaiah was singing for his beloved friend, who had a vineyard on a fertile hill. This friend of Isaiah’s took great care to get this vineyard ready. He dug out stones and planted choice vines. He put a tower in the middle to look over the vineyard with a carved wine vat there also. He was expecting good grapes, but he only got wild grapes. Clearly, he did not get what he expected.