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, I pray you, for my beloved, A song of my beloved as to his vineyard: My beloved hath a vineyard in a 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 fenceth it, and casteth out its stones, And planteth it [with] a choice vine, And buildeth a tower in its midst, And also a wine press hath hewn out in it, And he waiteth for the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!
3 “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.
And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem, and man 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 — to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!
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, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.
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 make it a waste, It is not pruned, nor arranged, And gone up have brier and thorn, And on the thick clouds I lay a charge, From raining upon it rain.
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.
Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts [Is] the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, 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 joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!
9 I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
By the weapons of Jehovah of Hosts Do not many houses a desolation become? Great and good 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 do yield one bath, And an homer of seed yieldeth 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 rising early in the morning, Strong drink they pursue! Tarrying in twilight, wine inflameth 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 harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.
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 removed without knowledge, And its honourable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of 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 Sheol enlarged herself, And hath opened her mouth without limit. And gone down hath its honour, and its multitude, And its noise, and its exulting one — into her. (Sheol h7585)
15 So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.
And bowed down is the low, and humbled the high, And the eyes of the haughty become low,
16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
And Jehovah of Hosts is high in judgment, And the Holy God sanctified in righteousness,
17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
And fed have lambs according to their leading, And waste places of the fat ones Do sojourners consume.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
Woe [to] those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as [with] thick ropes of the cart — sin.
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 are saying, 'Let Him hurry, Let Him hasten His work, that we may see, And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come, and we know.'
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 saying to evil 'good,' And to good 'evil,' Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness, Putting 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] the wise in their own eyes, And — before their own faces — intelligent!
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing beer,
Woe [to] the 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.
Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside 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 a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.
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 hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is 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 lifted up an ensign to nations afar off, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And lo, with haste, swift 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 in it, It doth not slumber, nor sleep, Nor opened hath been the girdle of its loins, Nor drawn away the latchet of its sandals.
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 its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!
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.
Its roaring [is] like a lioness, It roareth like young lions, And it howleth, and seizeth prey, And carrieth away safely, and there is none delivering.
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 howleth against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it hath looked attentively to the land, And lo, darkness — distress, And light hath been darkened by its abundance!
