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This is one of the classic passages in Isaiah and shows the prophet’s literary skills at their highest. He carefully weaves the story of the vineyard, slowly drawing in the listener/reader ever more fully until at the end he is trapped with no escape.
Isaiah the prophet of God now plays the role of a singer for God. The one he loves is Yahweh, and the song he sings is about Yahweh’s vineyard. Yahweh had prepared the ground and planted the best vines. He had every reason to expect a good crop of grapes, but the vineyard yielded only bad ones.
Next, he speaks for God and asks the audience, the people of Jerusalem and Judah, to act as judge. Considering all that he had done, didn't he have the right to expect good grapes? The implicit answer is yes. And because the vineyard failed to yield good fruit, he, the owner, will let it be destroyed. It will become a wasteland.
The trap had been set; now it is sprung. The vineyard is none other than the house of Israel, the people of Judah. They have distorted God’s intention for them. Two wordplays bring the message home with particular force, especially in the Hebrew:
He looked for justice [mišpāṭ],
but saw bloodshed [mišpāḥ];
for righteousness [ṣed̠āqāh],
but heard cries of distress [ṣe'qāh].
The similarity in the vowels and consonants (assonance and alliteration) of the Hebrew words would emphasize the dissonance of their lives.