Isaiah 5
1 I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes?
5 Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down.
6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry.
8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.
Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
12 At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor have they considered the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! (Sheol h7585)
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure. And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. (Sheol h7585)
15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is debased, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled,
16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
Then the lambs shall feed as in their pasture, and wanderers shall eat the waste places of the fat ones.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope,
19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”
who say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer,
Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the justice of the righteous man from him!
24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them. And the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth, and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.
27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them. None shall slumber nor sleep, nor shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken,
28 Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.
Their roaring shall be like a lioness. They shall roar like young lions. Yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. And if a man looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress, and the light is darkened in the clouds of it.
