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 now for my beloved, the song of my dear one touching his vineyard. A vineyard had my beloved on a rich hill-top;
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 cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in its midst, and also a winepress he hewed out therein: and he hoped that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth worthless fruit.
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 more was to be done to my vineyard, that I had not done in it? Why then did I hope that it should bring forth grapes, while it brought forth worthless fruit?
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 let you know also what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten off; I will break down its wall, 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 quite waste; it shall not be pruned, nor hoed around; and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; and the clouds will I command that they send down 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 the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he hoped for justice, but behold injustice; for equity, but behold iniquity.
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 unto those that cause house to join on house, bring field near to field, till there is no more room, so that ye may be left alone as the inhabitants 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 [spoke] the Lord of hosts, Truly many houses shall become desolate, yea, great and beautiful ones 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.”
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield [but] one bath, and a chomer-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 unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink; that continue until late in the twilight, 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 there are harp and psaltery, tambourine and flute, and wine at their drinking-feasts; but the deeds of the Lord they regard not, and the works of his hands they behold not.
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 are my people led into exile, for want of knowledge: and their honorable men suffer of famine, and their multitude are panting 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 hath the deep enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure: and there descend [Jerusalem's] glory, and her multitude, and her noise, and whoever rejoiced therein. (Sheol h7585)
15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
And bent down shall be the son of earth, and humbled shall be the man, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled;
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 shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified by [displaying his] righteousness.
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
Then shall the sheep feed according to their wont, and the ruins of the fat ones shall sojourners eat.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
Woe unto those that draw iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and as with a wagon-rope, sinfulness;
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!”
That say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it: and let draw nigh and come the counsel of the Holy One of Israel, 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 unto those that say of the evil it is good, and of the good it is evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that 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 unto those that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own esteem!
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer,
Woe unto those that are heroes to drink wine, and men of might to mingle strong drink;
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.
Who justify the wicked in lieu of a bribe, and who deprive the righteous of their right!
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 the fire devoureth the stubble, and dry hay sinketh before the flame: so shall their root be as rotten things, and their blossom shall fly up as the dust; because they have despised the law of the Lord of hosts, and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have rejected.
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 cause is kindled the anger of the Lord against his people, and he stretcheth forth his hand against them, and he smiteth them; and the mountains tremble, and their carcasses lie like sweepings in the midst of the streets: with all this his anger is not turned away, but still is his hand stretched out.
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 afar, and will call for one of them from the end of the earth; and, behold, with speed, swiftly, it cometh;
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 none weary, nor stumbling among its men; it slumbereth not, it sleepeth not; not loosened is the girdle of its loins, not broken is the latchet of its shoes;
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 sharpened, and all whose bows are bent; its horses hoofs are hard like the flint, and its wheels like the 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.
It hath a roar like the lioness, it roareth like the young lions: yea, it growleth, and layeth hold of the prey, and carrieth it safely off, with 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 it will rage against them on that day like with the raging of the sea: and if one look unto the earth, behold, there is darkness, oppression, and the light is darkened through the darkness of its clouds.
