"And now, pray, I will tell you What I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, That it shall be devoured; I will break down the wall thereof, That it shall be trodden down; Yea, I will make a waste thereof, That it shall not be pruned or weeded. Then it shall put forth thorns and thickets of brambles; The clouds I will command that they rain not thereon." Everybody understood now that Isaiah was speaking a parable and that its application was to them and to their country. But who was the "friend" who possessed this vineyard? Isaiah did not hold the questioners in long suspense: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel, And the men of Judah are His cherished plant; And he looked for justice, but, behold! bloodshed; For righteousness, but, behold! a cry of distress." Then Isaiah launched forth into a powerful denunciation of the social evils of which Judah and the leading Judeans were guilty--a sixfold woe that was rushing the Nation on to destruction. "Woe unto them that join house to house, Who add field to field, Until there is no space left, And they dwell alone in the midst of the land. "Woe unto them that rise at dawn To pursue strong drink, Who tarry late into the night Until wine inflames them; But they regard not the work of the lord And see not what His hands have made "Woe unto them that draw guilt upon themselves With cords of folly, And sin as with a cart rope! "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 conceit! "Woe unto them that are heroic in drinking wine, And valiant in mixing strong drink! Who, for a bribe, justify the wicked And strip the innocent man of his innocence! "Therefore, as the fire devours stubble, And as hay shrivels in a flame, So their root shall be as rottenness And their blossom go up as dust; Because they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of Israel's Holy One." So intensely absorbed in his speech was Isaiah, and so deeply interested was the vast assembly whom he was addressing, that no one took note of a splendidly arrayed group of men who had come up and stood with the rest, listening. When Isaiah had finished speaking, and the people had caught their breath again, some one shouted: "Behold! The king!" Isaiah looked over the heads of the crowd toward the newcomers, and there he beheld Jotham and a retinue of nobles, laughing heartily, no doubt, at his masterful effort. Fearlessly, and without a moment's hesitation, the prophet did what he had threatened Jotham he would do--he denounced his friend, the king, before his people: