Isaiah 5
1 I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my paternal cousin, about his vineyard. A vineyard was made for my beloved, at the horn in the son of oil.
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 fenced it in, and he picked the stones out of it, and he planted it with the best vines, and he built a tower in the middle of it, and he set up a winepress within it. And he expected it to produce grapes, but it produced wild vines.
3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.
Now then, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah: judge 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 more should I have done for my vineyard that I did not do for it? Should I not have expected it to produce grapes, though it produced wild vines?
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 reveal to you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its fence, and it will be plundered. I will pull down its wall, and it will be trampled.
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 make it desolate. It will not be pruned, and it will not be dug. And briers and thorns will rise up. And I will command the clouds not to 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 the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the man of Judah is his delightful seedling. And I expected that he would do judgment, and behold iniquity, and that he would do justice, and behold an outcry.
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 you who join house to house, and who combine field to field, even to the limits of the place! Do you intend to live alone in the midst of the earth?
9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
These things are in my ears, says the Lord of hosts. Otherwise, many houses, great and beautiful, will become desolate, without an inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”
Then ten acres of vineyard will produce one small bottle of wine, and thirty measures of seed will produce three measures of grain.
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 you who rise up in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and to drink even until evening, so as to be inflamed with wine.
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.
Harp and lyre and timbrel and pipe, as well as wine, are at your feasts. But you do not respect the work of the Lord, nor do you consider the works 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.
Because of this, my people have been led away as captives, for they did not have knowledge, and their nobles have passed away from famine, and their multitudes have dried up from 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)
For this reason, Hell has expanded its soul, and has opened its mouth without any limits. And their strong ones, and their people, and their exalted and glorious ones will descend into it. (Sheol h7585)
15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
And man will be bowed down, and man will be humbled, and the eyes of the exalted will be brought low.
16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will be sanctified in justice.
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
And the lambs will pasture in proper order, and new arrivals will eat from the deserts turned into fertile lands.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
Woe to you who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and who draw sin as if with the rope of a cart,
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!”
and who say: “Let him hurry, and let his work arrive soon, so that we may see it. And let the plan of the Holy One of Israel approach and arrive, so 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 you who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light, and light for darkness; who exchange 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 you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer,
Woe to you who are powerful at drinking wine, who are strong men in contriving inebriation!
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
For you justify an impious man in exchange for bribes, and you carry away the justice of a just 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.
Because of this, as the tongue of fire devours stubble, and as the heat of a flame burns it completely, so will their root become like glowing embers, and so will their offshoot ascend like dust. For they have cast aside the law of the Lord of hosts, and they have blasphemed the eloquence 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.
For this reason, the fury of the Lord has been enraged against his people, and he has extended his hand over them, and he has struck them. And the mountains were disturbed. And their carcasses became like dung in the midst of the streets. After all this, his fury was not turned away; instead, his hand was still extended.
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 a sign to nations far away, and he will whistle to them from the ends of the earth. And behold, they will rush forward speedily.
27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.
There is no one weak or struggling among them. They will not become drowsy, and they will not sleep. Neither will the belt around their waist be loosened, nor the laces of their boots 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.
Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are taut. The hoofs of their horses are like flint, and their wheels are like the force of a tempest.
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 is like the lion; they will roar like young lions. They will both roar and seize their prey. And they will wrap themselves around it, and there will be no one who can rescue it.
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 in that day, they will make a noise over it, like the sound of the sea. We will gaze out toward the land, and behold, the darkness of the tribulation, and even the light has been darkened by its gloom.
